Can you eat the head and guts of anchovies?

Question

I read that you shouldn't eat fish guts and other parts because (a) fish guts have the fish stool, maybe poisonous, and (b) fish guts can affect the flavour.

I bought some dried small anchovies and some slightly bigger ones (though still small compared to most fish). The small ones are in the top right of the pic, and the larger ones on the bottom shelf:

I notice that if I break the small ones there are some black things inside (I'm guessing it's the stomach). It's all very small and I'm not sure how I'd go about removing the stomach.

Should the small ones be eaten with the stomach or is there some way to remove it? Does the same apply to the slightly bigger ones?

Answer 1

Just eat them

No need to do anything special with them, they're a tasty snack. Heads, bones, fins, all is good. They wouldn't be sold as snack foods if they weren't fully fit for consumption.