Jordan and Evermann. — Fishes of North America. 427 



preceding, from which few fishermen* distinguish it with certainty. 

 {wstivaUs, of the summer.) 



Clupea iBslivalis, MiTciiiLi,, Trans. Lit. APhil. Soc. N. Y., i, ISld, 4.56, New York. 

 Ahsa cyanonoloH, Storer, Hist. Fish. Mass., 161, 1867, Provincetown, Massachusetts. 

 Pomolobns Hslivnlis, GooDE & Bean, Uvill. Essex Inst., 24, 1879. 



Clupea ustimJh, JoRUAN & Gilbert, Synopsis, 267, 1883; McDonald, in Hist. .\(iuat. Anim., 

 079, 1884. 



209. ALOSA, Cuvier. 



(The Shad.) 



Alosa, GtlviER, Regno Animal, Ed. 2, 11, 319, 1829, (alosa). 



Aluusa, CuviEB & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., xx, 389, 1847, (vuhjaris). 



Body deep, compressed, deeper than in related American genera, the 

 head also deep, the free portion of the cheeks deeper than long; jaws 

 wholly toothless; upper jaw with a sharp, deep notch at tip, the pre- 

 maxillaries meeting at a very acute angle. Vertebras 56 (in Alosa alosa), 

 otherwise as in Pomolohus, to which genus Alosa is very closely allied. 

 Species three, of the North Atlantic, ascending rivers; highly valued 

 as food-fishes, although very full of small bones, the fiesh white and 

 rich, but not oily. {Alosa, Saxon Allis, old name of the European Shad, 

 Alosa alosa.) 



693. ALOSA SAPIDISSIMA (Wilson). 

 (Common Shad ; American Shad ; North River Shad ; Potomac Shad.) 



Head 4J ; depth 3. D. 15 ; A. 21 ; lateral line 60 ; ventral scutes 21 + 16. 

 Body comparatively deep. Mouth rather large, the jaws about equal, 

 the lower fitting into a notch in the tip of the upper ; no teeth. Preorbital 

 moderate ; cheeks much deeper than long, the preopercle extending little 

 forward, joining the mandible at a point rather behind the eye. Gill 

 rakers extremely long and slender, much longer than eye, about 60 below 

 the angle of the arch, the number smaller in specimens from the Gulf of 

 Mexico, which perhaps represent a tangible variety. Fins small ; dorsal 

 much nearer snout than base of caudal. Peritoneum white. Bluish 

 above ; sides white and silvery ; a dark spot behind opercle, and sometimes 

 several along the line dividing the color of the back from that of the sides ; 

 axil dusky. Length 2i feet. Atlantic Coast of the United States from 

 the Mirimachi to the Alabama, ascending rivers in spring to spawn. One 

 of the most important of our food-fish, of most excellent flavor, though 

 with many small bones. Also introduced by the United States Fish Com- 

 mission on the Pacific Coast, where it is now abundant from Monterey 

 northward. Specimens from the Gulf of Mexico are smaller, aud have 

 shorter and fewer gill rakers, constituting a slight variety, (sajndissima, 

 most delicious.) 



* "Their judgment is by no means infallible, for I have had them frequently sort out into 

 two piles, the fishes which they distinguish under these names, and found that their discrimina- 

 tion was not at all reliable. The features to whiili they mainly trust in the determination of 

 1'. sestimlis are the bluer color of the back and tlic greater sc^rration of the ventral ridge," both 

 of these characters varying with the condition of the specimen itself. (Goode.) 



