122 FISHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



The maximum length attained is 2 feet, and the maximum weight 5 pounds; 

 but such large fish are now very rare, and the average weight is under 3 pounds. 



The species is much inferior to the common shad, but nevertheless is often 

 marketed at a fair price, sometimes being sold to the unsophisticated as a genuine 

 shad. Dealers report that the larger ones are marketable in the north, where 

 they are quoted as "jacks" and bring 10 to 20 cents each, sometimes even 25 to 

 50 cents each. The fish are also much used in the state trade. In 1897 the 

 quantity marketed was 230,975 pounds, worth $7,583; but by 1902 the state 

 catch had increased to 684,896 pounds, valued at $33,552. 



108. POMOLOBUS PSEUDOHARENGUS (Wilson). 



"Alewife"; "Goggle-eye"; "Big- eyed Herring"; "Wall-eyed Herring"; 



Branch Herring. 



Clupea pseudoharengus Wilson, Rees's Cyclopedia, ix, about 1811; probably Philadelphia. Smith, 1893a, 191, 



195, 199; Albemarle Sound and tributaries. 

 Clupea vernalis Mitchill, Report Fishes of New York, 22, 1814; New York. 

 Pomolobus pseudoharengus. Yarrow, 1877, 215; Beaufort, Neuse River and sounds to northward. Jordan & 



Evermann, 1896, 426, pi. Ixxi, fig. 189. 



Diagnosis. — Body rather deep, the depth contained about 3 times in total length; head 

 short, about as deep as long, contained 4.66 to 5 times in total length; lower jaw slightly longer; 

 maxilla extending to pupil; tip of upper jaw with a slight concavity; eye large, longer than snout, . 

 contained 3.5 times in length of head; gill-rakers long, 30 to 40 on lower limb of first arch; 

 scales 50 to 54 in lateral series; dorsal fin usually rather higher than long, its height about .5 

 depth of body; dorsal rays 16; anal rays 17 to 19. Color: bluish on back, silvery white on sides; 

 dusky longitudinal lines along center of scales; a small black spot behind head; fins plain; 

 peritoneum pale, (pseudoharengus, false herring.) 



Fig. 41. Branch Herring; Goggle-eye. Pomolobus pseudoharengiis. 



The branch herring is found from North Carolina northward along the entire 

 coast; if it exists at all in the rivers of South Carolina and Georgia it is very rare, 

 and extensive collections of fishes in the St. Johns River, in Florida, have 

 failed to disclose its presence. It is extremely abundant in Albemarle Sound, 

 Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, New York Bay, and their tributaries, and in the 

 rivers, ponds, and bays of New England. 



