(Alosa sapidissima)
DESCRIPTION:
- Upper jaw with deep median notch, eye diameter usually less than cheek depth, last ray of dorsal fin not filamentous.
- Body compressed fusiform, abdomen compressed.
- Metallic green dorsally, silver laterally, shoulder spot present (sometimes followed by smaller spots).
HABITAT:
- Anadromous species which spends most of its adult life in large schools.
- Adults and juveniles overwinter in deep offshore waters.
DISTRIBUTION:
- Range from St. Lawrence River to Florida. (Also introduced on the Pacific Coast)
MIGRATIONS:
- Undertakes extensive ocean migrations - fish from all Atlantic coastal rivers spend the summer and fall in the Gulf of Maine.
- Adult shad enter the Chesapeake Bay from January to June to spawn in fresh to low-salinity areas during favorable water temperatures, then either die or return to sea.
- Eggs drift downstream and hatch before reaching saltwater.
DIET:
- Feed on plankton, small crustaceans, and small fishes.
(Info and images obtained from Fishes of the Chesapeake Bay by Murdy, Birdsong and Musick.)
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