298 SEVENTH REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



This fish grows to a length of 15 inches and a weight of 2 pounds. It spawns in 

 summer, and its food consists of algae, conferva, desmids and diatoms. With its 

 food it takes large quantities of mud, from which it separates the organic substances 

 after swallowing. This is a beautiful species, somewhat resembling the shad in gen- 

 eral appearance, and has been very successfully kept in the aquarium where its 

 bright colors and graceful movements make it attractive ; but its flesh is soft, taste- 

 less and seldom eaten when any better can be obtained. In most regions fishermen 

 consider it a great nuisance and throw away their entire catch. Negroes eat the 

 mud shad from tributaries of the Chesapeake, and in Florida the fish has been util- 

 ized to some extent in making guano. The name Gizzard Shad alludes to the form 

 of the stomach, which is very much like that of a hen. 



GIZZARD SHAD. 



41. Sea Herring (Clupca harcitgiis Linnaeus). 



Clupea harengus Jordan & Gilbert, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 265, 1883 ; Bean, 19th 



Rept. N. Y. Comm. Fish., separate, 42, pi. XXIV, f.g. 32, 1890. 

 Clupea eloiigata DeKav, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 250, 1842. 



The Sea Herring is the most important food fish of the world and it is 

 undoubtedly the most abundant of all the fishes. Its food consists of small 

 invertebrates, chiefly copepods and the larvas of worms and moUusks. It forms 

 the most important food of many of our valuable food fishes, including the cod, 

 haddock, halibut, bluefish, and a great many others. Herring spawn at two seasons, 

 spring and fall, the first spawning continuing from April to June and the second 

 season between July and December. The eggs are adhesive and are deposited on the 

 bottom, where they adhere to seaweeds and other objects of support. The egg is 

 about '/o inch in diameter. The hatching period lasts from 12 to 40 days, accord- 

 ing to the temperature of the water. Sea Herrings were artificially hatched as early 



