View source for Sand eel

{{Short description|Common name for several species of fish}}
[[File:Puffin (Fratercula arctica) with lesser sand eels (Ammodytes tobianus).jpg|thumb|An [[Atlantic puffin]] (''Fratercula arctica'') with its beak full of sand eels (''[[Ammodytes tobianus]]'')]]
'''Sand eel''' or '''sandeel''' is the common name used for a considerable number of species of [[fish]].  While they are not true [[eels]], they are eel-like in their appearance and can grow up to {{convert|30|cm|in|abbr=on}} in length.<ref name="NatureScot 2019-10-25">{{cite web |url=https://www.nature.scot/plants-animals-and-fungi/fish/sea-fish/sandeel |title=Sandeel |publisher=NatureScot |access-date=2020-11-16 |quote=Sandeels are small eel-like fish which grow up to 30 cm in length and can often be found in vast shoals. They feed primarily on plankton of variable size, ranging from small plankton eggs up to larger energy rich copepods found in great abundance in Scotland's seas. Some species of sandeel can live for as long as 10 years, reaching maturity at around 2 years of age. }}</ref>   Many species are found off the western coasts of Europe from [[Spain]] to [[Scotland]], and in the [[Mediterranean Sea|Mediterranean]] and [[Baltic Sea|Baltic]] Seas.
Sand eels are an important food source for seabirds, including [[puffin]]s and [[kittiwake]]s. They are a commercially important for the production of [[fish meal]] and made up 4% of fish globally caught for fish-meal production (behind [[anchovy]], [[capelin]], and [[blue whiting]]) between 1997 and 2001.<ref name="Huntington 2004">{{cite report |author=Huntington, T. |author2=C. Frid |author3=R. Banks C. Scott |author4=O. Paramor | date= 2004-02-10 | title=  'Assessment of the Sustainability of Industrial Fisheries Producing Fish Meal and Fish Oil'. Report to RSPB | url= https://www.rspb.org.uk/globalassets/downloads/documents/positions/marine/assessment-of-the-sustainability-of-industrial-fisheries-producing-fish-meal-and-fish-oil.pdf | publisher=Poseidon Aquatic Resource Management Ltd | page=6 | access-date = 2020-11-16}}</ref>
==Habitat==
The preferential habitat for sand eels is a seabed floor, with a relatively smooth bottom of gravelly sand; an example of this prime habitat is the floor of the Sea of the Hebrides.
==Sand eel species==
Most sand eels are sea fish of the [[genus|genera]] ''[[Hyperoplus]]'' (greater sand eels), ''[[Gymnammodytes]]'' or ''[[Ammodytes]]''.<ref name="WoRMS">{{cite web |url=http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=126752#vernaculars |title=Ammodytes tobianus Linnaeus, 1758 |work=WoRMS taxon details |publisher=World Register of Marine Species |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114160153/http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=126752 |archive-date=2020-11-14 |access-date=2020-11-14 }}</ref> The three genera listed above all fall within the [[family (biology)|family]] '''[[Ammodytidae]]''', the [[sand lance]]s.  Members of these genera found in other [[ocean]]s are not usually called sand eels, and species from other parts of the world that are known as sand eels are usually less closely related.
==Commercial fishing==
Traditionally, they have been little exploited for human food, but are a major target of [[industrial fishing]] for animal feed and fertilizer.<ref name="DauntWanless2008">{{cite journal|last1=Daunt|first1=Francis|last2=Wanless|first2=Sarah|last3=Greenstreet|first3=Simon P.R.|last4=Jensen|first4=Henrik|last5=Hamer|first5=Keith C|last6=Harris|first6=Michael P|title=The impact of the sandeel fishery closure on seabird food consumption, distribution, and productivity in the northwestern North Sea|journal=Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences|volume=65|issue=3|year=2008|pages=362–381|issn=0706-652X|doi=10.1139/f07-164|s2cid=55086717 |url=http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/3964/1/Daunt_2008_CJFAS.pdf }}</ref> Increasing fishing for them is thought to be causing problems for some of their natural predators, especially the [[auk]]s, which take them in deeper water.
An instance of this was the [[RSPB]] report linking a [[population dynamics|population crash]] of seabirds in the [[North Sea]] to fishing for sand eels.<ref name="CarrollBolton2017">{{cite journal|last1=Carroll|first1=Matthew J.|last2=Bolton|first2=Mark|last3=Owen|first3=Ellie|last4=Anderson|first4=Guy Q.A.|last5=Mackley|first5=Elizabeth K.|last6=Dunn|first6=Euan K.|last7=Furness|first7=Robert W.|title=Kittiwake breeding success in the southern North Sea correlates with prior sandeel fishing mortality|journal=Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems|volume=27|issue=6|year=2017|pages=1164–1175|issn=1052-7613|doi=10.1002/aqc.2780}}</ref><ref name="RSPB 2017-06-14">{{cite web |url=http://ww2.rspb.org.uk/our-work/rspb-news/news/442657-sandeels-and-seabirds-protecting-our-seas-in-postbrexit-waters |title=Sandeels and seabirds: Protecting our seas in post-Brexit waters |publisher=The RSPB |date=2017-06-14 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114154406/http://ww2.rspb.org.uk/our-work/rspb-news/news/442657-sandeels-and-seabirds-protecting-our-seas-in-postbrexit-waters |archive-date=2020-11-14 |access-date=2020-11-14 |quote=Tracking data of individual breeding kittiwakes by RSPB scientists indicates that the most productive sandeel fishing grounds, an area known as the Dogger Bank, overlap with foraging areas of kittiwakes from eastern English colonies, raising the prospect that the fishery could adversely affect the birds' populations. }}</ref> This led to political pressure for the closure of this fishery; the seabird populations subsequently improved.<ref name="BMF 2020-10-29">{{cite web |url=https://www.bluemarinefoundation.com/2020/10/29/ngos-applaud-uk-government-proposal-to-close-dogger-bank-to-fishing/ |title=NGOs Applaud UK Government Proposal to Close Dogger Bank to Fishing |work=News |publisher=Blue Marine Foundation |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114155044/https://www.bluemarinefoundation.com/2020/10/29/ngos-applaud-uk-government-proposal-to-close-dogger-bank-to-fishing/ |archive-date=2020-11-14 |access-date=2020-11-14 |quote=If fully protected, the Dogger Bank protected area will provide a refuge for over fished and endangered species like the common state and angleshark. Important keystone fish such as sandeels can recover to feed greater numbers of fish, seabirds porpoises and seals. }}</ref>
They are also tied as flies to catch fish.
==See also==
*[[Environmental impact of fishing]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Fish common names]]
{{Perciformes-stub}}