FISHES. 135 



and small, in fewer pieces than in the Clupeidae, which the species otherwise much 

 i-esemble. They are broad, silvery fishes, rather attractive in appearance, but lean and 

 bony, and therefore considered of little value as food. They inhabit the fresh and 

 brackish waters of the Atlantic coasts of North and Central America, as also those of 

 eastern Asia and Australia. On the Pacific coasts of America and the Atlantic coasts 

 of the Old World they are unknown. They are sluggish fishes, feeding on mud, and 

 remarkable for the muscular character of the stoniach, which resembles the gizzard of 

 a fowl. The twelve known species chiefly belong to the genus Dorosoma ( Chatoessus). 

 The common gizzard or hickory-shad of the United States is Dorosoma cepedianum. 

 The great herring family, or Clupeid^, comprises fishes with the body oblong or 

 elongate, compressed, covered with cycloid scales, the head naked, the mouth large, 

 with subequal jaws, and the teeth feeble or often wanting. The maxillary is well 

 developed, and composed of about three pieces. There is no lateral line. The gill 

 rakers are usually very long and slender, and the pseudobi-anchise are jDresent. Tlie 

 fin rays are all soft and articulated, and the fins have the positions most usual in soft- 

 rayed fishes. There is no adipose fin. Most of the species have the belly compressed 

 to an edge, and. serrated. About one hundred and thirty species are known, some of 



Fig. 88. — Ciupea harengus, herring. 



them found in all seas, and many of them ascending rivers for purposes of spawning. 

 They are mostly fishes of weak organization, swimming in great schools, and forming 

 a large part of the food of predatory fishes. Their importance to man is very great, 

 not from the especial value of individuals, but from their immense number, and the 

 ease with which they may be captured. It is thought that the Clupeidae comj)rise a 

 greater number of individuals than any other family in Ichthyology. The principal 

 genus is Clupea. 



The common herring {Clupea harengus) inhabits both shores of the North 

 Atlantic, being found in immense schools. From its great abundance it is one of the 

 most valuable food fishes throughout northern Europe and the corresponding parts of 

 North America. Preserved by smoking, it is found in nearly every grocery store in 

 the United States, and it is also largely salted for food purposes. Very similar to 

 this species is the heri-ing of the Pacific {Clupea mirabilis), which inhabits the 

 corresponding latitudes in the Pacific, and is equally abundant, although less important 

 commercially, because less sought for by fishermen. 



The alewife, or branch herring ( Clupea vernalis), a fish not unlike the common 

 herring, abounds on the coast of our northern states and Canada, ascending the rivers 

 with the shad in the spring for the purpose of spawning. It has become land-locked in 

 many of the inland lakes, where it is now permanently a fresh-water fish. This is also 

 true of the Ohio herring, or skipjack {Clupea chrysochloris), native in the Gulf of 



