The round sardinella (Sardinella aurita) is a species of ray-finned fish in the genus Sardinella found in both sides of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
S. aurita went through a large boom in catch population around 1990. However, its numbers have been very stable through the last several years. S. aurita inhabits warm waters. It is a small, pelagic species that lives in tropical and subtropical waters of the western and eastern Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Mediterranean, and occasionally, the Black Sea. The gonads start to develop in April and are fully mature one month later. Plankton in spawning regions are full of eggs and larvae from the end of June into September.
The fish prefer shallower waters around 24 °C. It reaches depths of 350 m. It is a schooling fish that feeds on phytoplankton and zooplankton such as copepods.
