Atherina, smelt, Mediterranean sand smelt, whitebait is a small fish reaching a length of 8-15 cm.
Name - Origin
Αθερίνα.
Xenophon P. Pharmakidis calls the very small fish atherina (Kypri 1983 [2003²], entry αθερίνα,η, 119).
The length of an atherina is around 10 cm but can reach 18 cm. It feeds on zooplankton and benthic invertebrates and breeds during the summer months. It is found on the coast in shallow bays and harbours in large shoals during the summer and autumn months (Ioannou - Michaelides 2011, 6).
Scientific name:
Atherina lacunosus
Atherina hepsetus
Atherina boyeri
(Ioannou - Michaelides 2011, 6)
The word is derived from the ancient Greek word αθερίνη. (Yangoullis 2009, entry αθερίνα,η, 41).
It is caught with special bait from the shore and it is very tasty (Ioannou - Michaelides 2011, 6). It is fried alone, with eggs or prepared as savoro (Great Encyclopaedia of Cyprus, vol. 1, entry αθερίνα,η and entry αθερίνος,ο, 223).
Additional information and bibliography
The species Atherina hepsetus and Atherina boyeri are endemic, while Atherinomorus lacunosus is a lessepsian species that entered the Mediterranean from the Red Sea (Ioannou - Michaelides 2011, 6).
Yangoullis K. G. (2009), Thesaurus of the Cypriot dialect. Interpretative, Etymological, Phraseological and Nomenclatural Dictionary of the Medieval and Modern Cypriot Dialect, Theopress Publications, Nicosia.
Ioannou G. - Michaelides N. (2011), The 100 most important fish species of the Cypriot seas, Press and Information Office for the Fisheries and Marine Research Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environment.
Kypri Th. D. (ed.) (1983 [2003²]), Materials for the compilation of a historical dictionary of the Cypriot dialect, Part B, Glossary of Xenophon P. Pharmakides, Publications of the Centre for Scientific Research, IX, Nicosia.
Pavlides A. (ed.) (1984), Great Encyclopedia of Cyprus, vol. 1, Filokypros, Nicosia.
Kyriaki Panteli, Argyro Xenophontos
Traditional Recipes
Fish savoro
Savoro is a sauce made of vinegar, flour, oil and garlic, in which Cypriots used to preserve fish in the days when there were no refrigerators. Fish would be preserved in this sauce for about a week.
Foods
Fishing and fish dishes
In recent years, in Cyprus, fish was served as follows: oftá (chargrilled), fried, hoglastá (boiled), savóro (marinated), plakí (in the oven) and yahní (in tomato sauce).