NOTES ON THE EXTENT AND CONDITION OF THE ALEWIFE 

 FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES IN 1896. 



By Hugh M. Smith. 



THE ALEWIVES OR RIVER HERRINGS. 



Ale wives are the most abundant food-fishes inhabiting the rivers 

 of the eastern coast of the United States, and, next to the shad, are 

 commercially the most valuable fishes of those waters. Although their 

 range is similar to that of the shad — namely, from Maine to Florida — 

 they are somewhat more generally distributed; they enter all the rivers 

 frequented by shad aud also annually visit in large numbers many 

 other streams. 



The two species of alewives are very similar in appearance and 

 habits, and may easily be mistaken for each other on casual observa- 

 tion. They are usually distinguished by fishermen and dealers and 

 receive different names, but the identification of individual specimens 

 by fishermen is often faulty, as they depend more on the time of the 

 run and the denseness of the schools than upon any reliable structural 

 or color characteristics. 



The branch herring (Pomolobus pseiidoharengus) 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. It appears earlier than the 

 other alewife, usually preceding the first run of shad, and ascends to 

 the headwaters of streams to spawn. 



The glut herring (Pomolobus aestivalis) is common in the St. Johns 

 Biver, Florida, and is found thence northward along the entire coast 

 of the United States, being most abundant in Albemarle Sound and 

 Chesapeake Bay. It usually appears, suddenly, about the middle of 

 the shad season, coining in enormous schools. It does not, as a rule, 

 ascend the streams far above tide water, and spawning takes place at 

 a shorter distance from the sea than in the case of the branch herring. 



The branch herring may be readily distinguished from the glut herring 

 by the pale lining (peritoneum) of the abdominal cavity, this structure 

 being black in the glut herring. Other features by which the two fishes 

 may be identified are the deeper body, more elevated fins, and larger eye 

 of P. pseudoharengus. 



F . R . 98 3 33 



