CLASS PISCES. 113 



Genus CLUPEA, sp., Artedi. 



Clupea harengus, Linn. HERRING. 



This occurs commonly all round the coast. It was 

 formerly taken in the Estuary of the Blackwater in sufficient 

 numbers to make it worth while to fish for it with drift-nets 

 after the manner followed (although on a much larger scale) 

 in the North Sea. Of late years, considerable numbers of 

 Whitebait, satisfactorily proved to be Herring fry, have been 

 taken in the Crouch and the Blackwater, and dispatched to 

 London. 



Clupea pilchardus, Artedi. PILCHARD. 



Is occasionally taken on the coast. Dale gives it in his 

 list of Harwich fish, and says (Hist, of Harwich, p. 432) : " It 

 is rare, but is occasionally brought among Herrings to market." 

 Day says (Fishes of Great Brit., vol. ii., p. 230) Yarrell 

 obtained one in May, 1838, from the mouth of the Thames. 



Clupea sprattus, Linn. SPRAT. 



Enormous numbers of this fish are taken off our coast by 

 the stow-boat fishermen. A good Sprat season is the great 

 harvest of the Wyvenhoe and Brightlingsea men, and plenty 

 of Sprats means to these places a prosperous winter. An 

 immense proportion of the fish taken is used for manure, but 

 very large quantities are sold in a fresh state for food. The 

 Aldeburgh plan of fishing with drift-nets is not so destructive 

 to the immature, not only of sprats but of all other kinds of 

 fish, as is our stow-boat fishing. 



Clupea alosa, Linn. ALLIS SHAD. 



I have never taken this fish. Day (Fishes of Great Britain, 

 vol. ii., p. 236), quoting Yarrell, mentions one being taken in 

 the Thames above Putney in 1831. Jenyns describes it (Brit. 

 Vert. Animals, p. 438) as " occasionally, though rarely, taken 

 in the Thames." 



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