FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



85 



locality records definitely belonging to this species, 

 not to young sea sturgeons, are from Province- 

 town and Waquoit, Mass.; from the Hudson 

 River, N. Y. ; from Delaware Bay and River; 

 and from Charleston, S. C. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — The only 

 recent record of the little sturgeon in the Gulf is 

 of one about 23 inches long, taken at Province- 



town about 1 907 and now mounted in the Museum 

 of Comparative Zoology. 10 The Museum of the 

 Essex Institute, Salem, also has — or had — a 

 stuffed sturgeon from Rockport, Mass., identified 

 as this species by Goode and Bean. 11 Evidently 

 the sturgeon is now very scarce in our Gulf and 

 there is no reason to think that it ever has been 

 more plentiful there. 



The Herring and Tarpon Tribes 

 FAMILIES CLUPEIDAE, DUSSUMIERIIDAE, AND ELOPIDAE 



The true herrings (Clupeidae) are soft-finned 

 fishes wholly lacking spines, with one short dorsal 

 fin, deeply forked tails, ventral fins situated on 

 the abdomen far behind the pectorals, teeth small 

 or lacking in adults, deep bodies flattened side- 

 wise, and large scales that slip off at a touch. 

 They are, perhaps, the most familiar of northern 

 sea fishes and certainly are the most abundant in 

 number of individuals. Seven species of herring 

 occur in the Gulf of Maine — the hickory shad (not 

 very common), the sea herring, the alewife, the 

 blueback, and the shad (regular and plentiful), 

 thread herring (scarce), and the menhaden (irreg- 

 ular in its occurrence) . The shad, menhaden, sea 

 herring, and thread herring are easily named ; but 

 the alewife and the blueback resemble one another 



so closely that they are often confused, even by the 

 fishermen who handle them constantly. The round 

 herrings (Family Dussumieriidae) differ from the 

 true herrings chiefly in tbeir rounded bellies and 

 less deep bodies. The members of the Tarpon 

 Tribe (Family Elopidae) are very closely allied 

 to the true herrings (Clupeidae), from which they 

 differ in having a bony plate on the throat between 

 the branches of the lower jaw. There are only 

 about five species, all of them tropical. Two 

 are known from the Gulf, as strays. 



10 This Museum also has another of about 36 Inches from Waquoit, on the 

 southern shore of Massachusetts. 



" Bull. Essex Inst., vol. 11, 1879, p. 27. A sturgeon was reported as brt- 

 virostris from Boston Harbor many years ago, but there is no way now of 

 checking the Identification. 



KEY TO GULF OF MAINE HERRINGS AND TARPONS 



1. Last dorsal fin ray prolonged 2 



Last dorsal ray not prolonged 3 



2. Dorsal fin originates in advance of the ventrals; scales only moderately large Thread herring, p. 112 



Dorsal fin originates behind the ventrals; scales very large Tarpon, p. 87 



3. Belly rounded 4 



Belly sharp edged 5 



4. Scales very small; mouth very large with upper jaw-bone extending considerably beyond the rear edge of the eye; 



point of origin of dorsal fin about over that of the ventral fins Ten pouDder; p. 86 



Scales large; mouth small, with upper jaw-bone extending rearward only about as far as the front edge of the eye; 

 point of origin of dorsal fin well in advance of that of the ventral fins Round Herring, p. 87 



5. Head (tip of snout to edge of gill cover) very large, occupying about one-third the total length of the body to base 



of the central rays of the caudal fin; free edges of scales fluted, not rounded Menhaden, p. 113 



Head about one-fourth the total length of the body; free edges of the scales rounded 6 



6. Distance from point of origin of dorsal fin to tip of lower jaw (mouth closed) about as long as from origin of dorsal 



fin to base of central rays of caudal fin; edge of belly hardly saw-toothed, though sharp; general form comparatively 



shallow; there is a cluster of teeth on the roof of the mouth Sea herring, p. 88 



Distance from point of origin of dorsal fin to tip of lower jaw (mouth closed) considerably shorter than from point of 

 origin of dorsal fin to origin of central rays of caudal fin; edge of belly more or less strongly saw-toothed, especially 

 in space between the ventral and anal fins; general form deep; there are no teeth on the roof of the mouth. _ 7 



7. The tip of the lower jaw extends noticeably beyond the upper when mouth is closed Hickory shad, p. 100 



The tip of the jaw does not extend appreciably beyond the upper when mouth is closed 8 



