136 LOWER VERTEBRATES. 



Mexico, but now abundant as a fresh-water fish throughout the Mississippi valley. 

 This species is rarely eaten, and is of no economic value. Closely allied to the alewife 

 is the glut herring, or blue-back {Clupea cestivaUs), which on our eastern coast runs 

 later than the alewife, and is smaller and less abundant. The sprat (Clupea 

 sprattus) is another species of this type, inhabiting the coasts of Europe. 



Still others are the allice shad ( Clupea alosa), the thwaite shad ( Clupea finta), 

 inhabiting the coasts of Europe, and the much more valuable American shad ( Clupea 

 sapidiisinui)., found along the Atlantic coast of the United States. The American 

 shad is one of the largest of the family, and certainly as a food fish is far superior to 

 any of the other large species. It is found along our coast from Xew England to the 

 Gulf of Mexico, and ascends the different rivers in the spring to spawn. It has been 

 successfully introduced on the Pacific coast, and is now not uncommon in the 

 Columbia River and about the Bay of Monterey. 



Species of rich fle.sh and little ossified skeleton are the different fishes jiroperly 

 called sardines. These are peculiarly excellent when broiled, and may be eaten bones 

 and all with impunity, while in the shad and other herrings generally the numerous 

 small bones are a source of annoyance. The best known of the sardines is the 

 European sardine, or jiilchard ( Clupea pilchardus), the species so extensively 

 preserved in oil in southern Europe. A similar species, but less abundant, is the 

 West Indian " Sardinade Espaiia" (Clupea pseudohispanica). A larger species, also 

 very close to the European one, and perhajis sometimes to be economically as 

 important, is the California sardine {Chq^ea saga.f), which ranges from Oregon to 

 Chili, and this or some similar species is also found in Xew Zealand and in Jajian. 



Clupea toll, the ' trabu ' of Sumatra, is also extensively fished for the sake 

 of its roes, which are sent to China. Numerous other species of greater or less 

 importance abound in all seas, those of the trojiical waters of America being generally 

 smaller in size, and less in value than those of the Xorth. 



The genus Optisthonema, distinguished by the filamentous prolongation of the last 

 dorsal ray, has two abundant but commercially unimportant species, both American. 



The genus Brevoortla is distinguished by its pectinated scales and its elongate 

 intestines. Tlie mouth is toothless, and the head is very large. The most imjjortant 

 species is the menhaden or mossbunker (Srevoortia ti/rannus) of the Atlantic coast of 

 the United States. It is a bony and rather coarse fish, but from its great abundance 

 on our coasts its actual economic value in the United States is scarcely inferior to 

 that of any other species, even the cod, or the quinnat salmon. The young are now 

 canned in olive oil as " American sardines." The old fishes are used largely as bait 

 for the cod and other carnivorous fishes. Large factories exist in New England 

 for the purpose of extracting oil from the menhaden ; the annual yield of menhaden 

 oil in the United States (according to Goode) exceeding that of whale oil. The 

 refuse from the oil factories is used in the manufacture of artificial fertilizers. 

 In some regions the menhaden are vised directly by farmers as manure in fields 

 of Indian corn. One of the most complete and valuable fish biographies yet pub- 

 lished is the Natural and Economical History of the American Menhaden, by G. 

 Brown Goode. 



All the aVjove-mentioned species have the edge of the belly serrated. There is a 

 small sul>faniily, Dussumiei-iinae, in which the belly is rounded. To this belong a 

 number of small fishes, mostly of tropical America and Asia, two of which occur in 

 the waters of the United States. These are too small to attract popular attention. 



