noun
definition
Any of various small, herring-like, marine fish in the genus Sprattus, in the family Clupeidae.
Examples of sprat in a Sentence
The sprat, pilchard or sardine and shad are species of the same genus.
Sprat fishing boats Open In the 20th century, Dundee also had a fish dock.
Graham was ledgering a small sprat head section on a size 8 single treble.
The sprat cannot be confounded with the herring, as it has no teeth on the vomer and only 47 or 48 scales in the lateral line.
The sprat spawns in the open sea from February to May and is only occasionally captured in the ripe condition.
The sprat is one of the more important foodfishes on account of the immense numbers which are caught when the shoals approach the coasts.
The fish resembles a sprat in having a forked tail and a single dorsal fin, but the body is round and slender.
They resemble those of the sprat and pilchard in having a segmented yolk and there is no oil globule.
The herring, cod, flatfish, mackerel and sprat are taken in the seas, and also great numbers of a small herring called striimnaing.
In times past whitebait were considered to be peculiar to the estuary of the Thames; and, even after the specific identification of Thames whitebait with the young of the herring and sprat, it was still thought that there was a distinctive superiority in its condition and flavour.
Indeed, Thames whitebait which have been compared with that from the mouth of the Exe, the Cornish coast, Menai Strait, and the Firth of Forth seemed to be better fed; but, of course, the specific characteristics of the herring and sprat - into which we need not enter here - were nowise modified.
Among fish, sprat, whiting, flounder and sand goby abundance have all increased since the initiation of power station closures.
John's other bait was a float fished sprat which had also seen better days, but was still holding together enough to cast.
John 's other bait was a float fished sprat which had also seen better days, but was still holding together enough to cast.
The frozen sprat actually landed 10 feet behind her up the bank.