The Common Herring 



slender tip of the lower; fore part of the cheek very 



deep, deeper than long; Alosa, 104 



aa. Scales with their posterior margins vertical, and pectinate or 

 fluted; intestine elongate; Brevoortia, 108 



GENUS CLUPEA LINNAEUS 



The True Herrings 



The true herrings have the body elongate, the vertebrae 

 numerous, the ventral serratures weak, and an ovate patch of 

 small but persistent teeth on the vomer. The few species 

 belong to the northern seas, where the number of individuals 

 is very great, exceeding perhaps those of any other genus of fishes. 

 In America there are but 2 species, both of which spawn in 

 the sea. 



a. Belly serrate both before and behind ventrals; anal rays 



17; harengus, 96 



aa. Belly serrate behind ventrals only; anal rays 14; 



pallasii, 99 



Common Herring 



Clupea harengus Linnaeus 



The herring is beyond question the most important of food 

 fishes in the Atlantic, if not in the world. Distributed as it is 

 throughout the whole of the North Atlantic, it affords occupation 

 for immense fleets of fishing boats, and according to an esti- 



96 



