SYSTEMATIC CATALOGUE OF FISHES. 119 



eye. 25 length of head, longer than snout; lower jaw included; scales in longitudinal series 56 to 

 65, in transverse series about 20; dorsal rays 10 to 12, the last ray about as long as head; anal 

 rays 31; caudal forked, the lower lobe longer. Color: above bluish, sides silvery; North Carolina 

 specimens often have dorsal and caudal fins uniformly dusky, and pectoral, ventral, and anal 

 fins with dark edges; living fish are sometimes blackish-green all over. (Named after a cele- 

 brated French naturalist, Count Lac^pede, whose Natural History of Fishes contains descrip- 

 tions of many American species.) 



This fish is found in brtfckish and fresh waters of the Atlantic coast from 

 Massachusetts to Mexico, and is also a permanent resident throughout the 

 Mississippi Valley and in several of the Great Lakes. While present in the 

 larger coastal waters of North Carolina throughout the year, there is a special 

 movement from salt water to the rivers in spring, and it is abundant in the 

 sounds and streams at the time of the shad run. The young, 3 to 6 inches long, 

 are also extremely numerous in spring; they are marked by a lustrous purple 

 shoulder spot. 



The local names are "gizzard shad," "mud shad", "nanny shad^', "nancy 

 shad", and "shiner", the one in most general use being "nanny shad". 



Fig. 39. Gizzard Shad; Mud Shad. Dorosoma cepedianum. 



The average weight is 1.5 to 2 pounds. The spawning season is summer. 

 The stomach is a hard, rounded, muscular mass, like the gizzard of a chicken; 

 and the food is chiefly bottom mud. 



The gizzard shad has very little food value, the flesh being of poor quality 

 and filled with numerous small bones. It is, however, sometimes consumed 

 locally and also shipped to market, especially in winter. 



Family CLUPEIDiE. The Herrings, Sardines, Shads, and Alewives. 



This, the most important family of fishes, contains several hundred species, 

 found in all parts of the world, in both fresh and salt water; one species, the sea 

 herring {Clupea harengus), having a greater value than any other fish, the annual 

 product amounting to about $25,000,000. Most of the species occur in schools. 



