214 



JTalacop- 

 terygii 

 Abdomi- 



nales. 

 Clupids. 



ICHTHYOLOGY. 



FAMILY V.—CLUPID^. 



Fishes allied to herrings are easily recognised by their 

 having no adipose fins ; their upper jaw is formed as in 

 trouts, — in the middle by inter-maxillary bones witliout 

 pedicles, and on the sides by the maxillary bones; their body 

 is always very scaly. The majority of the species possess a 

 swimming bladder and numerous caeca. Those which as- 

 cend rivers are comparatively few in number. 



The great genus Clupea of Linnaeus may be known by 

 two well-marked characters ; 1st, by the narrow and short 

 inter-maxillary bones, which constitute only a small por- 

 tion of the upper jaw, the sides of which are completed by 

 the maxillaries in such a way that the lateral parts only are 

 protractile ; and, 2(1, by the comjiressed and sharp inferior 

 edge of the body, upon which the scales project like the 

 teeth of a saw. Besides, the maxillaries are divided into 

 three pieces. The branchial openings are very much cleft ; 

 and hence these fishes speedily die when removed from 

 their native element. 



Their branchial arches are furnished on the side next 

 the mouth with pectiniform dentations. The stomach has 

 the form of an elongated pouch ; the swimming bladder is 

 long and pointed, and in some species sends forwards two 

 long and small processes, which communicate with the in- 

 ternal ear in a remarkable manner. Their ca;ca are nume- 

 rous. Of all fishes, these have the most numerous and the 

 finest bones. 



Genus Clupea, Cuv. Herrings, properly so called. 

 The maxillary bones arched anteriorly, and longitudinally 

 divisible into several pieces ; the opening of the mouth of 

 modei'ate size ; the upper lip not emarginate. 



C. /lareiifftis, Linn. The common herring ; le Hareng, 

 Fr. ; der Haring, Ger. Tiiis well-known fish has visible 

 teeth in both its jaws ; the carina of the belly is but slight- 

 ly marked ; the sub-opercle is rounded ; there are veins 

 on the sub-orbital, pre-opercle, and upper part of the 

 opercle. The attachment of the ventral fins corresponds 

 to the middle of the dorsal ; the head is one fifth of the 

 length of the whole fish, and by carrying backwards from 

 the first dorsal fin the distance of that organ from the snout, 

 we arrive at the middle of the caudal. The anal fin has 

 sixteen rays. 



The investigation of the habits of this fish has not re- 

 ceived that attention which its importance as an article of 

 food to the inhabitants of this country demands ; and there 

 are several circumstances respecting its economy which 

 still require farther examination. It is generally believed 

 that the herring inhabits in winter the depths of the Arctic 

 Ocean, or other seas in northern latitudes, and that during 

 the rest of the year it makes migrations southwards. In 

 summer and autumn they appear on the north and west 

 coasts of Europe in immense shoals, and about the same 

 season they arrive at some parts of the coast of America 

 and Asia. It has been supposed that those coming from 

 the north divide into two detachments, one of which pro- 

 ceeds along Newfoundland to America, the other along 

 Norway to the south of Europe, and that one subdivision 

 of this second detachment goes up the Baltic, while the 

 other proceeds along Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, and 

 France, as far as the western coast of Spain. 



This is the description of the annual migrations of the 

 herring given by Pennant ; but some doubts have been en- 

 tertained as to its accuracy, from the circumstances, \st, 

 that while in some places the herrings do not make their 

 appearance for years, in others they are taken in abundance 

 all the year round ; and, 2rf, that they have never been 

 observed on their return northwards. Other naturalists 



suppose that they come merely from the deep into shallow Malacop- 

 water during the spawning season, and that in so doing ^'^T""'' 

 they do not make any very lengthened journeys. In truth. 



Abdonii- 



we ai-e not as yet furnished with sufficient data to decide the ciuyidse 

 questiiin ; but, in the mean time, we do not feel inclined ^ 

 entirely to reject the generally received opinion, that the 

 herrings migrate from north to south in summer and autumn. 

 In migrating, the herrings proceed in vast troops, — so 

 great, indeed, that the sea is sometimes covered with them 

 for miles, and that they have even been known to be 

 stranded or crushed in immense quantities in confined 

 bays, or when thrown by the wind or by currents upon 

 the shore. The shoals are said to be generally preceded, 

 sometimes for days, by one or two males. The largest 

 generally go first, to act in some measure as guides ; and, 

 as they proceed onwards, immense numbers fall an easy 

 and unresisting prey to rapacious birds, or to their own not 

 less rapacious kindred of the sea. 



It is generally believed that the herrings captured far 

 north are larger, fatter, and of a better quality, than those 

 of the south ; and for this reason, in the month of July, our 

 fishermen go out to meet the shoals as far as Orkney and 

 Shetland. The greatest number are taken on the coasts 

 of Norway and Sweden, in the first of which countries it 

 is said that about 400 millions are taken in one year, and 

 sometimes twenty millions in a single fishery. The inha- 

 bitants in the neighbourhood of Gothenburg, in Sweden, 

 take as many as 700 millions in a year. Herrings are 

 fished also in great quantity in this country, Germany, 

 France, Holland, the United States, and Kamtschatka. 



The average size of the herring is stated to be about ten 

 inches. According to Dr Knox, the females are consider- 

 ably larger than the males, — the largest female he found on 

 the east coast of Scotland measuring eleven inches, the 

 largest male nine inches and a half. It does not appear to 

 be precisely known at ^vhat age they attain their full size. 

 Considerable doubt has at all times prevailed regarding 

 the food of the herring. They were generally stated to 

 live on small crabs and fishes, and on a minute crustaceous 

 animal named by Fabricius Astacus harengum. But this 

 was chiefly matter of supposition, for most practical fisher- 

 men described the stomach of the fish when in good state 

 as quite empty, or, at most, as containing a little brownish 

 mucus ; and it has appeared difficult to reconcile the fact, 

 that it is when the stomach appears thus empty that the 

 fish is in its best condition, viz. fullest, with the finest fla- 

 vour, and most capable of keeping, — with the notion, that 

 when it appears upon our coasts it has quitted its natural 

 feeding ground, and has been longer and longer in a state 

 of starvation the more southern the latitude in which it is 

 found. Dr Knox's interesting observation, that the prin- 

 cipal food of the salmon and vendace consisted of minute 

 crustaceous animals, led him to examine carefully with the 

 microscope the brownish matter contained in the alleged 

 empty stomachs of the herring ; and he then formed the 

 opinion, that this matter consisted of the debris of a very 

 minute entomostracous animal.' 



It is well known that the herrings caught upon the east 

 coast of Scotland are much inferior to those taken on the 

 west coast, and more particularly to those of Loch Fine, 

 and other lochs of Argyleshire. Dr Knox states that the 

 herrings taken near the Firth of Forth in July are foul, or 

 are engaged in spawning, while those of the west coast, in 

 the same season, have the organs of reproduction very 

 slightly developed ; and he conjectures that that species 

 of crustaceous animal which forms their appropriate and 

 most favourite food may exist abundantly in the bays on 

 the west coast of Scotland, and either not at all, or not in 



It is figured iu the Edin. Phil. Trans, vol. xii. pi. x. 



