GIZZARD SHAD. 871 



water shed between the lake and the Ohio River. It abounds in the 

 Licking Reservoir, and is a great nuisance to the fishermen, who some- 

 times find that two-thirds of all the fish in the net are these ' herring,' 

 as they term them." This species feeds upon weeds, i. e., vegetable debris, 

 algsfe, confervae, desmids, and diatoms. 



As a food fish, the Gizzard Shad is almost worthless. The flesh is soft, 

 coarse, and insipid, as well as full of bones. Mr Klippart states that it 

 Is sometimes split and salted on Lake Erie and shipped with other fish 

 of low grade as '• Lake Shad." He also states that " forty years ago it 

 was esteemed an excellent faod fish on the Cincinnati market," which, if 

 true, shoivs either that the Cincinnatians do not now buy fish for their 

 good looks (for the gizzard Shad i^ a handsome fish), or else in forty 

 years they have progressed a long way toward epicureanism. 



The popular name "Gizzard Shad " is given in given in allusion to the 

 gizzard-like form of the stomach, which resembles that of a hen. 

 " Hickory Shad " is said to allude to a fancied resembance between the 

 stomach and a hickory nut. 



Synonymy. — This fish is now considered as a form or variety of the 

 common Eastern Gizzard Shad, which is a salt water fish, although, like 

 the Shad, it freely enters the rivers. The oldest name for the Western 

 form is heterurus of Rafinesque, given in allusion to the inequality of 

 the lobes of the tail. The difference between heterurum and cepedianvm, 

 is not great, the greater arch of the back in cepedianum being the main 

 difference. 



FAMILY XI. CLUPEID^. THE HERRINGS. 



Clnpeoid fishes, with the month moderate or rather large, terminaj, the jaws nearly 

 eqnal ; the maxillary composed of aboat three pieces, not extending beyond the eye ; 

 dentition extremely varions, the teeth typically feeble ; gill-rakpis more or less elongate, 

 slender ; gill openings wide, the membranes not united ; branchiostegals rather few ; 

 body compressed, the belly serrated ; scales moderate or rather large, decidnons ; no lat- 

 eral line ; caadal fin forked ; dorsal fin moderate, nearly median, nearly opposite the 

 ventrals (which are absent in a foreign genas) ; anal fin moderate or long, genera 

 about twelve, although a much greater number has been described ; species about 120, 

 inhabiting all seas, some of them ascending or remaining in fresh waters ; many of 

 them are highly valued as food fishes ; others are coarse and fall of small bones ; most 

 of the species are closely related to the typical genus Chipea, but the variations in the 

 position of tha rudimentary teeth are extremely great. These variations have given 

 rise to a great number of generic names, most of whicli are probably useless. 



