They are found swimming in large shoals off the coast throughout the summer and winter months.

The Sprat and the Pilchard both belong to a family of fish with moderately elongated bodies. There are two species in New Zealand, a more slender sprat and a shorter stout sprat. They can be distinguished by body shape and colour.

The common sprats body is rather deeper in relation to its length than in the Pilchard. The front of the dorsal fin is nearer the base of the caudal (tail fin), than it is to the tip of the snout. The paired ventral fins, are situated at a point on the belly directly under the front of the dorsal fin. They also have small sharp spine's situated in rows on each side, on the belly.
The head is not scaled, though the body is coverd with hundreds of tiny minute scales.

They grow to around 8 - 12 cm or about (3"- 4") long, though a few can grow to around 12 - 15 cm (5" - 6") long. They are a greeny or blue fluorescenty colour on their backs, and silver on their sides and belly. A band of green divides the dark upper parts from the silvery colour of the lower parts.

The fins are usually colourless, but some specimens have the the fins and abdomen a light shade of yellow.

I am not 100% sure but I beleive the sprats spawn in the winter months around April to August.

The Sprat spawns in the open water, and the eggs float freely on or near the surface of the ocean, and drift with the currents until hatched.

Sprats I beleive feed on smaller crustaceans such as juvenile crabs, shrimps, in fach just about any other hosts of small marine organisms that inhabit the surface waters of our coasts.

Sprats are also very much sought after by larger fish, seabirds, and marine mammals.