HERRING TRIBE. 
487 
The Herring Tribe, —Family Cl upeid.e. 
Second to none in their commercial importance, the herring tribe are remark¬ 
able for the enormous number of individuals by which several of the species 
are represented rather than for the multiplicity of the species themselves; this 
being probably one of the chief reasons for the great value of these fishes as a 
food-supply. Although the existing representatives of the family may be readily 
distinguished from the salmonoids by the absence of a fatty fin, yet extinct forms 
indicate such an intimate connection between the two groups as to induce some 
naturalists to include both in a single family. Whatever may be the ultimate 
verdict on this point, in a work like the present, where we are mainly concerned 
with living types, it is obviously preferable to follow the ordinary system. While 
the typical representatives of the family have the parietal bones of the skull 
separated by the supraoccipital and but one true tail-vertebra, in the genus Flops 
the parietals are in contact, and there are two caudal vertebrae. On this account 
it has been proposed to make the latter genus the type of a distinct family; a 
similar proposal having been made in the case of an analogous departure from the 
ordinary type among the salmonoids. In addition to the absence of the fatty fin, 
most herrings are characterised by the presence of small bony plates on the lower 
margin of the body. Externally the whole body is scaled, with the lateral line 
mostly wanting; while the head is generally naked, and the muzzle always without 
barbels. The under surface is more or less compressed, and generally so much 
so as to form a sharp edge, which is usually serrated. In the gill-cover the four 
elements are present, and the gill-openings are in most cases very wide. Both 
premaxillae and maxillae enter into the formation of the margin of the upper jaw, 
but each of the latter bones is peculiar in being composed of three separate pieces. 
The single short dorsal fin has a small or moderate number of weak rays, and the 
anal may be many-rayed. The stomach is furnished with a blind sac; the air- 
bladder is of more or less simple structure; and well-developed false gills are usually 
present. Distributed over all temperate and tropical seas, herrings are mainly 
littoral fishes, none of them being inhabitants of deep water, and none truly 
pelagic. Although the majority are marine, many of them will enter fresh water, 
and some live permanently therein, while it is probable that all can be acclimatised 
to such conditions. As might have been expected from their generalised structure, 
herrings are an ancient group, the typical genus dating from the period of the 
Chalk, while anchovies and other existing generic types are known from the 
Eocene. A number of more less nearly allied Cretaceous genera appear to connect 
the family very closely with the higher ganoids. 
The common herring (Clupea haven gits) belongs to a group of 
Typical Group. g enera c ] iarac t er is e d by the equality in the length of the two jaws, 
the presence of free fatty lids to the eyes, and the serration of the lower border of 
the hinder part of the body; the typical herrings being distinguished from the 
allied genera by the anal fin being of moderate length, with less than thirty rays, 
and the serration of the under surface commencing from the chest or point of 
origin of the pectoral fins. Usually the scales are of moderate or large size, 
although they may be small; the cleft of the mouth is of medium width; and if 
