pilchard

noun

1. a small, southern European, marine fish, Sardina pilchardus, related to the herring but smaller and rounder.
2. any of several related fishes, as Sardinops caeruleus, common off the California coast.

noun

1. a European food fish, Sardina (or Clupea) pilchardus, with a rounded body covered with large scales: family Clupeidae (herrings)
2. a related fish, Sardinops neopilchardus, of S Australian waters

n.fish of the herring family, 1540s, earlier pilcher (1520s), of unknown origin. The -d- is “excrescent” [OED].