They feed mostly on small pelagic schooling fish, particularly herring, capelin, and sprat. In the Baltic Sea, cod, herring, and sprat are considered the most important species. Cod is the top predator, while the herring and sprat primarily are recognized as prey. Sprat are competitive with herring for the same food resources. Additional sprat quota/sandeel quota may be purchased for Baltic Sea sprat and Norway pout fishing. The sprat tends to prey on the cod eggs and larvae. "Jack Sprat" (or "Jack Spratt") is an English language nursery rhyme. However, when hunting sprat, porpoise may stay closer to the surface. They resemble sprat and pilchard eggs in having a segmented yolk and no oil globule. The European sprat is native to the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. The Duke was the patron of Abraham Cowley, Thomas Sprat, Matthew Clifford and William Wycherley. In 1878 she resided at the Sprat Hall plantation. The name Jack Sprat was used of people of small stature in the sixteenth century.