Species:

Alosa sapidissima

Common Names:

American Shad

Family

Clupeidae (Herrings, shads, sardines, menhadens)

Order:

Clupeiforms

Description:

76.0 cm TL (male/unsexed); max. weight: 5,500.0 g; max. reported age: 11 years
Dorsal spines (total): 0-0; Dorsal softrays (total): 15-19; Anal spines: 0-0; Anal soft-rays: 18-24; Vertebrae: 51-60. Moderately compressed, belly with a distinct keel. Lower jaw not rising steeply within mouth. gill rakers long and slender (fewer in young). Silvery in color with blue or blue-green metallic luster on back (Ref. 1998). A dark spot on shoulder, sometimes followed by several more, or even a second row. Resembles A. pseudoharengus with lower jaw rising steeply within mouth, eyes larger, and fewer lower gill rakers, as also A. aestivalis and A. mediocris (Ref. 188). Silvery, with a green or bluish back (Ref. 7251). Branchiostegal rays 7 (Ref. 4639).

Fishery Status:

• Value

• Annual Harvest

Commercial and game fisheries.

Commercially caught in rivers and estuaries during spawning migration (Ref. 1998). Utilized fresh, salted, or smoked. The roe is esteemed. Eaten pan-fried, broiled, and baked (Ref. 9988). Shad are angled and considered a fine game fish.

American shad were much more abundant in the past. During the 1800s a thriving fishery for shad existed along the Atlantic coast supporting an annual catch as high as 23,000 tons (50 million pounds). Today, small commercial fisheries exist but numbers have greatly declined due to over-fishing and changes in our rivers. Dams often block access to vast areas of spawning habitat. Even where fishways provide access, many young shad may not survive the downstream migration.

National and Bay Commercial  Landings for 1990-2000 Summary

Predators:

Although not a major food source for other animals, shad are eaten at sea by seals, sharks, blue-fin tuna, kingfish, and porpoises. Young shad in freshwater are eaten by bass, American eels and birds.

Prey/Food source:

Feed on plankton, mainly copepods and mysids, occasionally on small fishes. 

Life History:

Spend most of its life at sea, returning to freshwater streams to breed (Ref. 27547). Non-spawning adults are found in schools near the surface of continental shelf waters in spring, summer and fall (Ref. 7135); also found in brackish waters (Ref. 4607). Newly hatched larvae are found in rivers during the summer; by autumn they enter the sea and remain there until maturity. Juveniles form schools at 20-30 mm TL and gradually move downstream (Ref. 4639). Feeding ceases during upstream spawning migration and resumes during the downstream post-spawning migration (Ref. 1998).  Possibly to 375 m depth (Ref. 6793). Parasites found are nematodes, Acanthocephali, copepods and distomes (Ref. 37032).

Habitat & Range:

pelagic; freshwater; brackish; marine ; depth range 0 - 250 m,
temperate; 60°N - 22°N

North America: New Foundland (Ref. 1998), the St. Lawrence River, and Nova Scotia southward to central Florida. Due to introductions into the Sacramento and Columbia Rivers, this species is now found from Cook Inlet, Alaska (Ref. 1998) to Baja California in Mexico and the Kamchatka Peninsula.

Main Reference:

Whitehead, P.J.P. 1985.