THE HERRING FAMILY 



THE fishes of this family have no spines in any of their 

 fins. They have a single short dorsal fin placed near the 

 centre of the back, and usually a short ventral fin placed 

 in the hinder part of the body near the tail. The pelvic 

 or abdominal fins are below the dorsal or a little in front 

 of it. There are never any barbels, the body is covered with 

 scales, which are thin and spineless, and the head is without 

 them ; the edge of the belly is usually more or less sharp, and 

 covered with a row of scales which have keels ending in sharp 

 points. The teeth are small and weak, the mouth large. The 

 gill-openings are large. The lateral line is in nearly all cases 

 absent. There is a well-developed air-bladder communicating 

 with the hinder end of the stomach. The body is bluish or 

 greenish on the back, very silvery and with iridescent colouring 

 on the sides. 



These fishes are never of very large size. They live in shoals, 

 and swim always in mid-water or near the surface, feeding 

 entirely on small free-swimming creatures, chiefly Crustacea. 

 They do not usually seize single creatures with their jaws, but 

 strain them from the water by means of the sieve-like apparatus 

 formed by long projections on the gill-bars, known as gill- 

 rakers. 



The gill-rakers can be easily seen by raising or removing the 

 gill-cover of either side in a herring or sprat. On the first or 

 uppermost of the bars to which the gill-fringes are attached will 

 be seen a row of stiff, pointed projections like the teeth of 

 a comb or a rake. These are directed forwards towards the gill- 

 cover and the throat, and the water that passes over the gills 

 has to pass between them. Fishes of this family occur through- 

 out the temperate and. tropical regions. They belong to the 



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