Omega-3. Omega-3 is considered an essential fatty acid for a healthy diet and has many added health benefits. Omega-3 positively impacts the body through its anti-inflammatory benefits. It also helps the cardiovascular system, whilst lowering blood pressure and triglyceride levels. Australian Sprat are also a great source of Vitamin D with 100g of Sprat being 15% of recommended daily intake. Vitamin D benefits the body by protecting the immune, nervous and skeletal system. It is also a source of Vitamin B12 which plays in energy production as well as DNA and red bloody cell production. One of the main problems with consuming too many large fish is the high mercury content which they have. The Australian Sprat is low in the food chain compared to larger animals which means that they don’t accumulate much mercury through their diet. Other larger fish in the food chain eat a collection of smaller fish which contain small amount of mercury individually which can collectively become an issue. Studies have shown that mercury content in sprats are low. The issue of adding sprats to your diet is the purine content. The purine content is sprats is high. Too much purine can affect the body due to the breakdown of purine in uric acid in the body. Reproduction and threats to reproduction The Australian Sprat takes approximately 15 days from fertilisation to hatching. The process of reproduction and breeding for a sprat is via spawning. This is the process where eggs are fertilised outside of the body. The female sprats release their eggs into the warm water and the male releases sperm to fertilise them. Some of the long terms threats to reproduction include climate change, over-fishing and pollution. References Sprattus Marine fish of Eastern Australia Marine fish of Southern Australia Marine fish of Tasmania Fauna of Victoria (Australia) Fish described in 1847