THE HERRINGS 



back, summer herring, kyack, saw-belly, and glut 

 herring. It is not very abundant in New England 

 waters and is not valued as a food or rod fish. 



The shad is the most prominent and the most 

 important of the herrings from a commercial 

 standpoint, except the common herring, which is 

 sold in the worldwide markets. Many and varied 

 names are applied to this delicate table fish ; most 

 generally it is known as the American shad, the 

 common shad, the North River shad, the Potomac 

 shad. Technically it is known as Alosa sapidissima, 

 the generic name being from the Saxon, allis, which 

 is the old name of the European shad, and the 

 specific, from the Latin, "most delicious." 



This fish is very closely allied to the alewives pre- 

 viously described, from which, however, it may be 

 distinguished by the lower jaw fitting into a notch 

 in the tip of the upper, by the entire absence of teeth, 

 its deep cheeks, and by its body also being deeper 

 than that of the other herrings. It has a dark spot 

 behind the large gill-cover, and its general colora- 

 tion is bluish above the lateral line, and white and 

 silvery below. 



The range of the common shad is a very wide 

 one, as it is found in the Gulf of Mexico eastward 

 from the mouth of the Alabama River, and thence 

 along the Atlantic coast north to the Mirimachi 



VOL. II. 13 I93 



