Tropical sardines and herrings (Family Clupeidae) form important fisheries resources in the Indo-West Pacific region. However knowledge of their biology and ecology is largely scattered across diverse localised studies. In addition, their challenging taxonomy due to numerous, morphologically similar species, coupled with data collected from dispersed, often small-scale and mixed species fisheries, creates difficulties for comparing species-level research and fisheries statistics across the region. This review considers four main groups of tropical marine clupeid species important for Indo-West Pacific fisheries—Sardinella (subg. Sardinella) species (‘Round-bodied Sardinellas’), Sardinella (subg. Clupeonia) species (‘Flat-bodied Sardinellas’), Amblygaster species (‘Tropical Pilchards’), and Herklotsichthys and Escualosa species (‘Tropical Herrings’)—and collates and synthesises existing knowledge on early life history, reproduction, trophic biology, habitat associations and population dynamics. Most research on tropical clupeid biology and ecology in the Indo-West Pacific is concentrated on the Round-bodied Sardinellas (S. longiceps and S. lemuru) from a few major fishery locations; other species-groups have been studied sporadically across their distributions. Characteristics such as maximum size, life span, size at first maturity and some habitat associations are generally similar within species-groups and differ between groups. However differences within the same reported species highlight the importance of continued work to improve taxonomic identification. There remain substantial gaps in knowledge on all species-groups. Regular critical review of specific research topics, such as reproductive parameters and population dynamics, would assist to standardise methods and terminology used, enable consolidation and comparison of findings, identify local research agenda, and help build and improve research on these important tropical species.

热带沙丁鱼和鲱鱼（克鲁皮科）是印度西太平洋地区重要的渔业资源。但是，他们的生物学和生态学知识大部分分散在各种本地化研究中。此外，由于形态上相似的众多物种，它们具有挑战性的分类学，再加上从分散的，通常是小规模和混合物种的渔业中收集的数据，给比较整个区域的物种水平研究和渔业统计数据带来了困难。这篇综述考虑了对印度洋-西太平洋渔业很重要的四个主要的热带海洋类斜纹物种，即Sardinella  （Sardinella）（Round- body Sardinellas），Sardinella（Clupeonia））物种（“平坦的沙丁鱼”），Amblygaster物种（“ Tropical Pilchards”）以及Herklotsichthys和Escualosa物种（“ Terical Herrings”），并整理并综合了有关早期生命史，繁殖，营养生物学，栖息地协会的现有知识和人口动态。西印度洋太平洋的热带类丘比生物和生态学的大多数研究都集中在圆体沙丁鱼（S. longiceps和S. lemuru）上。）来自几个主要的渔业地点；其他物种组在其分布中也得到了零星的研究。在物种组内，诸如最大大小，寿命，首次成熟时的大小以及某些栖息地关联之类的特征通常相似，而各组之间则有所不同。但是，相同物种之间的差异突出了继续开展工作以改善分类学鉴定的重要性。在所有物种组的知识上仍然存在很大差距。定期对特定研究主题（例如生殖参数和种群动态）进行严格的批判性审查，将有助于使所使用的方法和术语标准化，实现合并和比较研究结果，确定当地研究议程以及帮助建立和改进对这些重要热带物种的研究。