FISHES OF MASSACHUSETTS. m 



a single dorsal Jin ; abdominal line forming a sharp keel-like 

 edgey which in some species is serrated ; hranchiostegous rays 8. 



C. elongata. Le Sueur. The common Herring. 

 Journal Academy Nat. Sciences, vol. i. p. 234. 



This species which is known in our market as the " En- 

 glish herring, ^^ was described by Le Sueur in the "Journal of 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences," under the specific name 

 of ^'' elongata^ In some seasons this fish is taken in great 

 numbers. The quantities of herring packed and inspected, 

 according to tables kept at the general inspection ofiice for 

 five years, are as follows : 1832, 52 bbls. ; 1833, 36 ; 1834, 

 518; 1835, 963; 1836, 77. That a small quantity only 

 of the herring taken, is packed, is obvious, from the fact, 

 that in 1836, 500 bbls. were taken at Falmouth ; 400 bbls. at 

 Duxbury, and 3000 at Martha's Vineyard. 



Upon some portions of our coast, herring have been limited 

 in quantity for the last few years, and during the years 1835-6 

 very few, comparatively speaking, were taken. Their scarcity 

 has been attributed by the fishermen to torching them at 

 night, by which the shoals are broken up, and the fish fright- 

 ened away. 



The specimen lying before me, is thirteen and a half inches 

 in length. Color upon the back of a deep blue tinged with 

 yellow ; sides paler ; opercula, yellow tinged with violet ; be- 

 neath, silvery. Scales large, silvery, deciduous. Abdominal 

 ridge indistinctly serrated ; about thirty spines may be 

 counted in front of the ventrals, and fifteen behind them. 

 Depth of the specimen at the origin of the dorsal fin, one 

 fourteenth the length of the body ; width at the commence- 

 ment of the dorsal fin a little more than one seventh of the 

 length. Length of the head when the mouth is closed, from 

 the extremity of the lower jaw, about one seventh of the whole 

 length of the fish. Head destitute of scales, a depression upon 

 its top, between and back of the eyes, exhibiting numerous 

 mucous pores. Eyes large and provided with a nictitating 

 membrane ; pupil black, irides silvery ; distance between the 



