r; 
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445 
The commonest species is the Moon-eye or Toothed Herring of the Lakes 
(Hyodon tergisus): it frequently is taken in pound-nets, but is not regarded as 
a valuable food-fish. On the other hand the Gold-Eye, H. alosoides (so-called on 
-account of the belly coming to a sharp keel as in the Shad) is a fish of some import- 
ance in the North-west both commercially and to the sportsman, It is common 
in the Saskatchewan valley, but is probably confined to that part of Ontario 
which drains into Lake Winnipeg, p. 428. 
The CLUPEID or Herring tamily differ from the Moon-eyes in having an 
almost toothless mouth, but very long gill-rakers; they are all gregarious fish 
swimming in immense schools, but although many are marine, others, like the 
salmon, ascend fresh-water streams to spawn, and of these some may become 
permanently land-locked. 
The sea-herring (Clupea harengus) is of course one of the most valuable and 
4 abundant of food-fish, but it is entirely confined to the sea ; the Shad on the other 
hand (C. sapidissima) ascends rivers to spawn and was formerly abundant even 
in the Lower Ottawa. The only member of the genus, however, which can now 
be said to be common within the Province is the Gaspereau or Alewife 
(C. pseudoharengus or vernalis), introduced into Lake Ontario since 1873 and now 
very abundant. Another species, the Ohio Shad (C. chrysochloris), has been in- 
troduced into Lake Erie, but is not valued for food. 
One of the marked features of the herrings is the keeled abdomen with its 
_ saw-like edge. Teeth may be present on the vomer as in the sea-herring, or on 
_ the jaws as in the Shad, or may be absent in the adult asin the Alewife and Shad 
proper. The latter species is distinguished by the gill-cover being deeper than it 
is long, also by its finer and more numerous gill-rakers. 
_ The Gaspereau appears to have been accidentally introduced into Lake Ontario 
when the intention was to plant shad. At least it was formerly very uncommon 
in the lower St. Lawrence, rarely straggling up higher than Metis. It is still 
uncertain whether the fish, which appear abundantly every spring toward the end 
of April, and disappear just as suddenly in September or October, go down to the 
ocean in the fall and return thence in the spring or whether they merely retire to 
the deep waters of the lake. The time of their movement is very probably a 
matter of temperature. They come in towards the shores in immense schools at 
the spawning season, rising to the surface and rippling it as mackerel do. The 
schools are composed of adult fish of 8 to 9} inches in length, and are regarded as 
a nuisance in the Thousand Island region where they fill the pound and trap nets 
to the exclusion of other fish. They are, however, valuable from their quantity 
if not for their quality, and besides furnishing a cheap food the surplus catch 
can be employed in the manufacture of fertilisers. 
Obstacles in the way of river dams, etc., preventing the Alewives reaching 
their natural spawning grounds and thus diminishing their number, have been 
regarded by the late Professor Baird as a cause of the decrease of the inshore 
cod and other fisheries, the Alewives being a favourite food of the carnivorous fish. 
It is probavle that the presence of Alewives in Lake Ontario may re-act favourably 
on its fisheries by furnishing an abundant food for the larger lake fish. Little 
is known with regard to the spawning of the Alewife in Lake Ontario: it is said 
to occur in shoal water in June. The eggs number from 60,900 to 100,000, and are 
somewhat adhesive; three or four days ‘suffice to hatch them, and the young fish 
obtain a length of toro Gx three inches before the winter. Tinmense iiimbers obaieed 
Alewives are found on the surface of the lake in the early summer; the cause of 
