Whitebait is a collective term for the immature fry of fish, typically between 25 and 50 millimetres (1 and 2 in) long. Such young fish often travel together in schools along coasts, and move into estuaries and sometimes up rivers where they can be easily caught using fine-meshed fishing nets. Whitebaiting is the activity of catching whitebait. Individual whitebait are tender and edible. The entire fish is eaten — including head, fins, bones, and bowels. Some species make better eating than others, and the particular species that are marketed as "whitebait" vary in different parts of the world. As whitebait consists of immature fry of many important food species (such as herring, sprat, sardines, mackerel, bass and many others) it is not an ecologically viable foodstuff and several countries impose strict controls on harvesting.
Whitebait by region
Alboran Sea The Alboran Sea is the westernmost element of the Mediterranean Sea. Whitebait have been consumed as a favoured element of the diet of peoples living along the northern coasts of the Alboran Sea in Spain, even though sale of these products has been banned.
Australia In Australia whitebait refers to the juvenile stage of several predominantly galaxias species during their return to freshwater from the marine phase of their lifecycle. Species referred to as whitebait in Australia include common galaxias G. maculatus, climbing galaxias G. brevipinnis, spotted galaxias G. truttaceus, Tasmanian whitebait Lovettia sealii, Tasmanian mudfish Neochanna cleaveri, and Tasmanian smelt Retropinna tasmanica. Whitebait were once subject to a substantial commercial fishery but today only recreational fishers are permitted to gather them, under strict conditions and for a limited season.
China Chinese whitebait is raised in fish farms and plentiful quantities are produced for export. The frozen product is commonly available in food stores and supermarkets at reasonable prices. The Chinese name for these is often translated as "silver fish" in English.
Italy Gianchetti (also bianchetti) are the whitebait of the pesce azzurro of the Mediterranean (sardines and anchovies, etc.), caught with special nets named from the Ligurian sciabegottu (similar to the net to sciabica, but with smaller dimensions) in the early months of the year. A speciality of the Liguria cuisine, gianchetti are generally lightly boiled in salted water and served hot, dressed with oil and lemon juice. Another classic approach is to make fritters of the fish together with an egg and flour batter; finally they may simply be dipped in flour and deep-fried (frittelle di gianchetti/bianchetti). The gianchetti of a red colour (ruscetti, rossetti) are tougher and scaly to the palate; they are largely used to flavour fish-based sauces. In Sicilian cuisine whitebait are known as ceruses (literally translated as "baby"). Whitebait are the principal ingredient of the Sicilian specialty croquette polpette di neonata; which are a type of rolled meatball of whitebait with parsley, and egg and/or a bit of flour to amalgamate, fried in olive oil or sometimes deep-fried in peanut oil. In Neapolitan cuisine whitebait are known as cicenielli. In Brindisian cuisine whitebait are known as chuma (literally "foam of sea").
Japan
In Japan, the whitebait (しらす/白子, shirasu) fishing industry is concentrated in Shizuoka Prefecture, where the major landing ports for them are situated. The shirasu boiled in salted hot water is called kamaage shirasu (釜上げしらす; boiled whitebait), and this product retains about 85% or greater water ratio. The boiled whitefish which are subsequently semi-dried are referred to generally as shirasuboshi (しらす干し; literally 'dried whitebait'), but this is in the wider sense of the term; in the stricter sense shirasuboshi (also known as Kantō boshi, or 'Eastern Japan–style dried') refers to soft-dried products (50–85% water ratio), and distinguished from chirimen-jako (縮緬雑魚) (aka Kansai boshi or 'Western Japan style dried') which are dried to harder consistency (30% to shy of 50% water content.) The whitebait used in these shirasu products is generally the larvae of the Japanese anchovy, but in the vernacular Japanese language anchovy (片口鰯, katakuchi iwashi) is called a type of sardine (鰯, iwashi), thus shirasu may be (somewhat misleadingly) described as sardine fry in some literature, though the larvae of clupeids do occur as bycatch in the shirasu being harvested. The shirasu landed in Shizuoka Prefecture consists of the 2–3 month old, and 1–2 cm length larvae of mostly Japanese anchovy, and a small proportion of Japanese pilchard (真鰯, ma iwashi), Sardinops sagax melanostictus, a subspecies of sardine. One specialty product is the tatami iwashi (たたみいわし; literally 'tatami sardine'), a paper-thin square wafer made from uncooked dry shirasu, spreading the washed fish thinly inside square molds then drying them, which has become an expensive delicacy.
New Zealand
New Zealand whitebait are the juveniles of five galaxiid species which live as adults in freshwater rivers and streams. Four of these five species have been classified by the Department of Conservation as endangered. The whitebait are caught during their migration into freshwater habitats after their larval stage at sea. They are much smaller than Chinese or British whitebait, averaging 45–55 mm in length, and are around 15–22 weeks old.
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