(Alosa aestivalis)
DESCRIPTION:
- Large eye, dorsal margin of lower jaw sloped ubruptly upward, black peritoneum, last dorsal ray fin not filamentous.
- Body moderately deep and compressed.
HABITAT:
- Typical pelagic-schooling river herring.
- Occur in rivers, estuaries and coastal waters of the western Atlantic.
- Adults found over the Continental Shelf when not migrating between spawning grounds.
- Larvae and juveniles found in brachish and tidal fresh waters.
DISTRIBUTION:
- Range from Nova Scotia to Florida.
- Chesapeake Bay populations have decreased due to overfishing, degradation of habitat, and dams.
MIGRATIONS:
- Adults enter the Chesapeake Bay to spawn in late spring (April and May) then migrate to the sea in early fall to overwinter in deep offshore water.
DIET:
- Feed on diatoms, copepods, shrimps, insects, small fishes, squids and fish eggs.
(Info and images obtained from Fishes of the Chesapeake Bay by Murdy, Birdsong and Musick.)
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