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EveryFish
Amblygaster sirm in a lab

Spotted sardinella

A small herring with golden spots found in the Indo-Pacific.

Photo: Gihan Jayaweera, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The spotted sardinella is a marine fish in the herring family. It lives in reef areas across the Indo-West Pacific. Fishers catch it for food and bait, especially in Sri Lanka.

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  • Has 10 to 20 golden spots on its flank
  • Grows up to 27 cm in length
  • Known as Hurulla in Sri Lanka
  • Found from Mozambique to Fiji
  • Used commonly as bait fish

What it is

This small fish belongs to the herring family. It has a slender body with a belly that is not very round. The scales on its underside are not prominent. Its most striking feature is a row of ten to twenty golden spots along its side. These spots may turn black when the fish is preserved. It has between thirteen and twenty-one soft rays in its dorsal fin and twelve to twenty-three in its anal fin. Adults reach a maximum length of twenty-seven centimetres.

Where it lives

The species lives in marine waters associated with reefs. Its range covers the Indo-West Pacific region. It is found from Mozambique in the west to the Philippines in the east. The distribution extends north to Taiwan and Japan. It also reaches as far south as eastern Australia and Fiji. This wide range includes many coastal and island nations.

How it lives

It feeds on tiny organisms in the water. Its diet includes copepods and the larvae of bivalves. It also eats aquatic gastropods. Dinoflagellates such as Peridinium and Ceratium are part of its food source. As a reef-associated species, it likely stays near coral structures or coastal shelves rather than the open ocean depths.

Spotted sardinella
A drawing made by EveryFish from what this page says. It is a diagram, not a picture of the real fish.

Fish and people

Fishers catch this species throughout its range. It is a commercial fish in Sri Lanka, where locals call it Hurulla. People also use it as bait for larger predatory fish. Its small size makes it suitable for this purpose. It is one of the common small pelagic fish studied for its chemical composition and fatty acid profile in places like Indonesia.

Amblygaster sirm collected at Kampuan market, Suksamran, Ranong , southern Thailand
Amblygaster sirm collected at Kampuan market, Suksamran, Ranong , southern Thailand. Photo: Sahat Ratmuangkhwang, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Amblygaster sirm
Amblygaster sirm. Photo: BEDO (Thailand), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Questions people ask about Spotted sardinella

What does the spotted sardinella look like?

It is a small fish up to 27 cm long with a less rounded belly. Its key feature is a line of 10 to 20 golden spots along its side, which may turn black after preservation.

Where can you find this fish?

It lives in reef-associated marine waters across the Indo-West Pacific. Its range stretches from Mozambique to the Philippines, and north to Japan and south to Australia and Fiji.

What do people use this fish for?

It is a commercial food fish, particularly in Sri Lanka where it is called Hurulla. It is also widely used as bait for fishing due to its small size and availability.

Good reading and sources

Where this page comes from

The facts on this page come from the Wikipedia article "Amblygaster sirm", written by its contributors and used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence, and from its Wikidata record (CC0). EveryFish rewrote the text in its own words, with AI assistance, and compares every page with the article to make sure no passage is copied. It may be reused under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 licence with a link back.

It may contain mistakes, and figures change over time. Nothing here is investment or buying advice. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-11-15.

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Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

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