Underwater Sardine Dance

Sardines are typically tightly packed in a small can which is scored for easy opening, either with a pull tab (similar to how a beverage can is opened), or a key, attached to the side of the can. Thus, it has the virtues of being an easily portable, nonperishable, self-contained food. The close packing of sardines in the can has led to their metaphorical use for any situation where people or objects are crowded together, for instance, in a bus or subway car. It has also been used as the name of a children's game, where one child hides and each successive child who finds the hidden one packs into the space until there is only one left out, who becomes the next one to hide.
Sardines are a prominent prop in Michael Frayn's farce Noises Off.
• The Balkans
Fishing for sardela or sardina (Sardina pilchardus) on the coasts of Dalmatia and Istria began thousands of years ago. The region was part of the Roman Empire, then largely a Venetian dominion, and has always been sustained through fishing mainly sardines. All along the coast, many towns promote the age-old practice of fishing by lateen sail boats for tourism and on festival occasions. Today, industrial producers continue this tradition. Currently, there are four factories of canned sardines: in Rovinj, Zadar, Postira and in Sali, on the island Dugi otok ("Mardesic" factory, founded in 1905).