Anchovies as food Anchovies as food Anchovies are a family (Engraulidae) of small, common salt-water forage fish. There are 144 species in 17 genera, found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. Anchovies are usually classified as an oily fish. They are small, green fish with blue reflections due to a silver longitudinal stripe that runs from the base of the caudal fin. They range from to in adult length, and the body shape is variable with more slender fish in northern populations. A traditional method of processing and preserving anchovies is to gut and salt them in brine, allow them to mature,
Sphyraena chrysotaenia brown-grey above and silvery below, a dusky stripe runs from the snout through centre of the eye, above the base of the pectoral fin to base of the tail, this stripe may show a yellowish tint on the head. The distal portion of first dorsal and caudal fins is blackish, the second dorsal, pectoral and base of the caudal fins are yellowish. They have been recorded up to 32 cm standard length but average 20–25 cm. "Sphyraena chrysotenia" has an Indo-West Pacific distribution occurring from the Red Sea and Madagascar east through the Indian Ocean to China and northern Australia.