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Story: Coastal fish

Sprats

Image
Sprats

These schooling small fish in Wellington Harbour are most likely to be slender sprats (Sprattus antipodum). Sprats feed on plankton and are sometimes caught for bait. They are an important food item for seabirds and larger fish around southern New Zealand.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Dominion Post Collection (PA-Group-00685)

Reference: EP/2000/0809/13

by Craig Simcox

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Carl Walrond, Coastal fish – Plankton-feeding open-water fish, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/8823/sprats (accessed 24 June 2026).

Story by Carl Walrond, published 2 March 2009.