Common Name: gizzard shad 

 Scientific Name: Dorosoma cepedianum 

 Other Common Names: eastern gizzard shad, skip- 

 jack, hickory shad, mud shad, sawbelly, jackshad, 

 aucun(French Canadian), a/osenoyer(French),sa£>a/o 

 molleja (Spanish) (Fischer 1978). Occasionally re- 

 ferred to as threadfin shad, the accepted common 

 name for Dorosoma petenense (Mi Her 1 960, Robins et 

 al. 1991). 



Classification (Robins et al. 1991) 

 Phylum: Chordata 

 Class: Osteichthyes 

 Order: Clupeiformes 

 Family: Clupeidae 



Value 



Commercial : This species has little commercial value, 

 although it is sometimes reportedly harvested by net 

 from freshwater lakes and reservoirs, and processed 

 for animal feed or fertilizer. It is occasionally eaten, but 

 is not popular because of poor flavor, undesirable 

 texture, and being too bony. Gizzard shad are sold as 

 live bait for striped bass in Alabama (Mettee pers. 

 comm.). 



Recreational : The gizzard shad is generally consid- 

 ered a "trash" and/or nuisance fish by anglers, but 

 small sport fisheries have developed around dams and 

 other congregation points (Manooch 1984). It is some- 

 times used as live bait, especially for striped bass 

 (Mettee pers. comm.). Its greatest value is as forage 

 forcommercial and recreational fish species, and it has 

 been introduced into reservoirs as a prey species 

 (Manooch 1984, Guest et al. 1990). 



Indicator of Environmental Stress : Gizzard shad are 

 not typically used in studies of environmental stress, 

 but their populations have been used to assess the 

 management needs of fresh water lakes and reser- 

 voirs (Jenkins 1970). 



Ecological : The gizzard shad is an important forage 

 fish (Lee 1 980), and is often the primary prey of game 

 fish in some reservoirs (Guest et al. 1990). In estuar- 

 ies, this species is important in converting detritus, 

 algae, and benthic invertebrates into forage fish biom- 

 ass available to predatory fish (Lippson et al. 1979). 



Range 



Overall : The gizzard shad occurs from the Great Lakes 

 (except Lake Superior) and St. Lawrence River to 

 southeastern South Dakota and central Minnesota, 

 south across New Mexico, east to the Gulf of Mexico 

 and throughout Mississippi and the Great Lakes drain- 

 ages to about 40° N latitude on the Atlantic coast 

 (Fischer 1978, Lee 1980). The populations that exist 

 in the interior of the United States are generally land- 

 locked from the coastal populations which occur from 

 the St. Lawrence River southward along the Atlantic 

 coast to central Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, and 

 south to northeastern Mexico (Fischer 1 978). In south- 

 ern Florida it is found occasionally in freshwater canals, 

 and rarely in the Tampa Bay area (Springer and 

 Woodburn 1960, Springer 1961, Loftus and Kushlan 

 1987). 



Within Study Area : The gizzard shad occurs in estua- 

 rine and coastal fresh waters from the Rio Grande, 

 Texas, to southern Florida. It is abundant in some 

 estuaries, especially those with high freshwater inflow 

 (Table 5.19) (Fischer 1 978, Loftus and Kushlan 1 987). 



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