The Most Consumed Fish

The sardine, the most consumed fish on Earth, sustains the most lives on Earth. The Japanese characters for “sardine”(鰯) is written as ʻWeak Fish’,
but in truth, it might embody the strongest life force of them all.

3/100,000

One Pacific sardine lays approximately 100,000 eggs in its lifetime.
Along the way, many are eaten by various fish and seabirds, leaving only 100 sardines (approximately 0.1%) to become 15mm fry (shirasu). From there, an estimated 0.01% (10 fish) become adults. Suppose humans harvested them, 70% is used as feed for pigs or farmed fish. That means only 3 sardines ultimately make it to our plates. They sustain other lives, both while they live in the ocean and even after they are caught, by becoming a source of nourishment.

Collaboration
Hanging fish art created by KOMATSU Kosei (Kosei Komatsu Studio)

Audio guide narrator：SHOJI Mai