82 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHEBIES 
ing to the larger copepods and amphipods, pelagic shrimps, and decapod crustacean iarva:.’^ 
Moore (1898, p. 402) examined a large number of adult herring taken near Eastport and found 
them feeding solely on copepods and pelagic shrimps, while the young less than 4 inches long fed 
only on the former. 
Along the western North Atlantic coast the herring spawns during the spring, summer, and 
fall, the spring and the fall being the chief seasons. The fish spawns all along the coast from Nova 
Scotia to Block Island within 25 miles of land and at depths usually not exceeding 75 fathoms. 
The eggs are adhesive and demersal and they adhere to seaweeds and other objects on the bottom. 
They are 1 to 1.4 millimeters in diameter, and an individual fish, according to size, deposits from 
20,000 to 40,000. The period of incubation ranges from 11 days at 50° F. to 40 days at 38.3° F. 
According to Bigelow and Welsh (1925, p. 94), 10 to 15 days might be stated as an average for tho 
Gulf of Maine. The larvae are about 5 to 6 millimeters long at the time of hatching, and when a 
length of 40 millimeters is attained adult characters are nearly developed 
The sea herring is perhaps the most important food fish in the world. Occurring in countless 
numbers on both sides of the Atlantic, it is preyed upon by many species of fish, as well as whales. 
One of the chief enemies of young herring is the squid. This fact is known by many investigators, 
but we had occasion to watch the wholesale destruction of 2 to 4 inch herring during June, 1925, 
on the flats about Provincetown, Mass. Schools of 10 to perhaps 50 squids circled around a school 
of herring until they had bunched their prey into a compact mass. Individual squids then darted 
in and seized one, sometimes two, herring, ate only a small portion, and then darted back for more. 
Along the beach there remained a silvery streak of dead herring. 
During 1919 the catch of herring in the Gulf of Maine amounted to about 110,000,000 pounds 
(Bigelow and Welsh^ 1925, p. 105), of which about 80 per cent were sardines (young of about 3 to 
5 inches) while the remainder were adults utilized as food and bait for cod and other banks fish. 
The sea herring is principally a North Atlantic species and is very abundant on both coasts 
of the Atlantic Ocean. It is said to be the most important as well as the most abundant food fish 
in the world. This herring is not only an important article of food for man but it is of great importance 
as food for the larger fish of the North Atlantic, such as the cod, haddock, halibut, bluefish, and 
many others. The herring is used in the fresh, salted, smoked, and canned state, and it is also- 
used as bait in the line fisheries for cod, haddock, etc. The maximum length attained by the 
species is given as 18 inches. 
Habitat . — North Atlantic Ocean, on the coasts of Europe and America. Recorded as far south 
on the American coast as Cape Hatteras, and northward to northern Labrador. 
Chesapeake localities. — (a) Previous records: None. (6) Specimens in present collection : None.. 
The present record is based upon a field note by Dr. W. C. Kendall, made on March 14, 1894, in 
which he reports having taken a specimen 12 inches long from a pound net near Hampton, Va. 
25. Genus POMOLOBUS Rafinesque. Alewives; River herrings 
Body oblong, compressed; belly strongly compressed, serrate; mouth moderate, terminal, or 
the lower jaw projecting; teeth weak, no patch on vomer; cheeks usually longer than deep; an 
adipose eyelid present; dorsal fin short, nearly median; scales cycloid or with an emarginate mem* 
branous border, deciduous. Three of the four American species are found in the Chesapeake 
waters. 
KEY TO THE SPECIES 
a. Gill rakers rather few, 19 to 21 on the lower limb of the first arch; mandible strongly projecting 
entering into the general dorsal outline of the head, no pronounced angle on the upper margin 
near the median point of its length; tip of snout and lower jaw conspicuously dusky; peritoneum 
pale mediocris, p. 83 
aa. Gill rakers numerous, about 25 in very young, 40 to 50 in adults; mandible not strongly pro- 
jecting, never entering into the general dorsal outline of the head, a very prominent angle 
on the upper margin near the median point of its length, posteriorly very deep; the tip of 
snout and lower jaw not conspicuously dusky. 
