186 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



althougli oue of the choicest of pan fishes. Its eggs are deposited about 

 the same time and in the same places as those of striped bass and are 

 susceptible of the same methods of hatching. Ripe fish are frequently 

 taken in shad seines. The average yield of eggs per fish is about 

 40,000. The period of incubation is like that of the striped bass. 



THE ALEWIVES OR RIVER HERRINGS, 



The alewives or river herrings have the appearance of being small- 

 sized shad, but on close inspection will be seen to have characters which 

 entitle them to generic distinction. From the shad {Alosa) they differ 

 chiefly in having the cheeks longer than deep, fewer and shorter gill- 

 rakers, and no notch at the tip of the upper jaw. They also closely 

 resemble the common sea herring {(Jliqiea), but may be distinguished 

 fi'om it by the absence of teeth on the vomer, by a less elongate body, 

 and by much stronger scutes or plates along the ventral edge of the 

 body. The two species of alewives so closely resemble each other that 

 they are often confounded by fishermen. 



The branch herring [Pomolobns pseudoharengus), also known as the 

 branch alewife, gaspereau, wall-eyed herring, etc., has a rather deep 

 and compressed body (the depth being contained 3J times in length), 

 a large eye, and a pale or gray membrane (peritoneum) lining the 

 abdominal cavity. The glut herring {Pomolohus (esHvaHs), also called 

 blueback, sawbelly, kyack, summer herring, etc., has a more elongate 

 body, smaller eye, lower fins, and a dark or black peritoneum. 



The alewives are the most abundant food-fishes of the east coast 

 rivers and rank next to the shad in commercial value among the 

 anadromous fishes of the Eastern States. Both species range along 

 the entire Atlantic coast of the United States, but the glut herring is 

 more numerous southward and the branch herring is the principal fish 

 in New England. The average weight of each species is one- third to 

 two-fifths of a pound. The maximum is only half a pound. The age 

 at maturity is three or four years. 



There is an alewife fishery in every coast State from Maine to Florida, 

 but two-thirds of the catch is taken in Maryland, Virginia, and North 

 Carolina, Chesapeake Bay and Albemarle Sound being the chief cen- 

 ters of abundance. The total output in 1896 was 02,066,622 pounds, 

 having a, value of $459,598. These fish usually go in large schools or 

 bodies, which are often of immense size. Many hundred thousand 

 have frequently been taken at a single seine haul, and they have at 

 times been so abundant in North Carolina and elsewhere as to crowd 

 out shad and other fish and cause a suspension of shad lishing. 



Besides furnishing food for man, in a fresh, pickled, and smoked con- 

 dition, alewives are consumed in large quantities by other food-fishes, 

 especially in salt water, and are extensively utilized as bait in the 

 Important line fisheries of New England. 



The annual migration of the alewives from the ocean to the fresh- 



