FISHES OF CHESAPEAKE BAY 
81 
Family XX. — CLUPEID/E. The herrings 
Body oblong or elongate, more or less compressed; belly rounded or compressed, usually armed 
with bony serratures when compressed; mouth rather large, terminal, or more or less superior, 
with the lower jaw projecting; premaxillaries not protractile; teeth usually small, often feeble or 
wanting, variously arranged; adipose eyelid present or absent; gill rakers long and slender; gills 4, 
a slit behind the fourth; branchiostegals 6 to 15; pseudobranchiae present; lateral line wanting; 
scales cycloid or pectinate; dorsal fin usually about median, rarely wanting; no adipose fin; ventral 
fins, if present, moderate or small; anal fin usually rather long; caudal forked, vertebrae 40 to 56. 
KEY TO THE GENERA 
a. Scales with their posterior edges round and smooth, or nearly so, never pectinate; cheeks and 
opercles not exceedingly broad; intestine of moderate length. 
b. Last ray of dorsal normal, not produced into a long filament; vertebrae 46 to 56. 
c. Vomer with a patch of permanent teeth; abdomen not strongly compressed; ventral scutes 
rather weak Clupea, p. 81 
cc. Vomer without teeth; abdomen rather strongly compressed; ventral scutes prominent. 
e. Cheeks as long as or longer than deep; jaws with minute teeth Pomolobus, p. 82 
ee. Cheeks deeper than long; jaws in the adult without teeth Alosa, p. 93 
bb. Last ray of dorsal produced into a long filament; vertebrae about 40 to 44.. Opisthonema, p. 101 
act,. Scales with the posterior edges nearly vertical and strongly pectinate; cheeks and opercles very 
deep; intestine very long Brevoortia, p. 102 
24. Genus CLUPEA Linnaeus. Herrings 
Body long, compressed, with median line of abdomen armed with hard, bony scutes; maxillary 
with a broad supplemental bone; vomer with a permanent patch of teeth; vertebrae 46 to 56. A 
single species is known from the Atlantic coast, and it occurs in Chesapeake Bay only as a rare 
straggler. 
32. Clupea harengus Linnaeus. Sea herring. 
Clupea harengus Linnaeus, Syst. Nat., ed. X, 1758, p. 317; European seas. Lugger, 1877, p. 87; Jordan and Evermann, 1896- 
1900, p. 421, PI. LXX, fig. 185. 
“Head 4.5; depth 4.5; eye 4; D. 18; A. 17; lateral line 57; ventral scutes 28+13; vertebrae 56. 
Body elongate, compressed. Scales loose. Cheeks longer than high, the junction of the mandible 
and preopercle under middle of eye. Maxillary extending to middle of eye; upper jaw not emar- 
ginate, lower jaw much projecting. Vomer with an ovate patch of small permanent teeth; palatine 
teeth minute, if present; tongue with small teeth; jaws with or without minute teeth. Gill rakers 
very long, fine, and slender, about 40 on the lower part of the arch. Eye longer than snout. Dorsal 
inserted rather behind middle of body, in front of ventrals. Pectorals and ventrals short, anal 
low. Abdomen serrated in front of ventrals as well as behind, the serratures weak. Bluish; 
silvery below, with bright reflections. Peritoneum dusky.” (Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900.) 
This species was not seen during the present investigation, and apparently it is not recorded 
from Chesapeake Bay in a published work. The species is included here on the authority of certain 
field notes by Dr. W. C. Kendall, which he has kindly placed at our disposal and which were made 
during an investigation in Chesapeake Bay in 1894. Doctor Kendall reports having taken one 
specimen, 12 inches long, on March 13 in a pound net near Hampton, Va., and he also states that 
according to the fishermen this herring is caught occasionally. 
The sea herring may be recognized by the rather slender body, thin, deciduous scales, weak 
scutes on the ventral edge, and by the presence of a patch of teeth on the roof of the mouth. 
The food of the sea herring consists of small organisms, chiefly copepods, and the larvae of 
worms, mollusks, and other planktonic forms. It is stated in Bigelow and Welsh (1925, p. 103) 
that “the larvae (European) feed on larval gastropods, diatoms, peridinians, and crustacean larvae, 
but they soon begin taking copepods, and after they are 12 millimeters long depend on them 
exclusively for a time. * * * As they grow older they feed more and more on larger prey, turn- 
