184 



UNDERWATER GUIDE TO MARINE LIFE 



tail is very large. There are no teeth in the mouth. The single species of this 

 family is widely distributed in the tropical Pacific. 



MILKFISH (salmon HERRING, AWA, WHITE MULLEt) : ChunOS chaUOS 



Size: Up to 5 feet. 



Weight: Averages 7 pounds. Up to 30 pounds. 



Distribution: Abundant in the Gulf of California, northward to San Francisco. 

 Over the whole tropical Pacific. 



Identification: Same as for the family. 



Hahits: This is a schooling, vegetarian, surface feeder. It may enter harbor 

 mouths and inlets and is also found over deep water. 



HERRINGS: Family Clupeidae 



If any one group of the sea's inhabitants were singled out as being most 

 vital to man, this one would be chosen. Whole nations quite literally would 

 be bankrupt were it not for species of this family. But more important than their 

 importance to man is their vital position in the sea. Most of them serve as the 

 link in the food chain from plankton to the larger carnivorous animals, such 

 as tuna, shark, diving birds, and seals. 



The herrings, almost without exception, travel in huge schools, usually at 

 sea near the surface but also close inshore. They have feeble teeth and long 

 gill rakers as befits their plankton-feeding habits. The predominant color is 

 silver tending to be greenish and bluish on the back. There is little pattern 

 if any. The body is usually compressed, and the belly is frequently sharp-edged, 

 bearing a ridge of sharp scales. There is never a lateral line, and the tail is 

 always deeply forked. Herrings are exceedingly numerous in all seas and many 

 species are difficult to identify. 



COMMON herring: C/tipea harengus 



Size: Averages 1 foot or smaller. Up to Wz feet. 



Distrihiition: All of the North Atlantic. Common north of Cape Cod. Straggles 

 south to Cape Hatteras. 



Identification: The shape is distinctive. The color is dull silver with a bluish 

 back. The sharp-edged belly scales are not strong. 



Hahits: This is the most numerous fish of the Atlantic and also perhaps of 

 the world. It is a plankton feeder, but will pursue small fishes and invertebrates. 

 Huge quantities of herring are caught both by man and by the larger carnivorous 

 fishes. Small ones are packed and sold as "sardines." Schools of herring are 



Fig. 89. Common herrin 



