HERRING. The typical fishes of the fam ily Clupeicke (q.v.), to which also belong the shad, alewife, sardine (qq.v.) and other food fishes, the numbers of which consumed make this the most important economically of all families of fishes. The true or sea-herrings belong to the genus Clupea. The common her ring (C. harengus) of both sides of the north Atlantic swims in enormous schools containing countless numbers of individuals packed as closely as possible over areas of often 6 to 20 square miles. The herring is a migratory fish, but its movements are so complicated that much mystery still clings to them. The most satisfactory conclusions have been arrived at by a German commission appointed to study the natural history of the Baltic, etc., which concluded that the herrings live in the deep water off the coasts which they approach peri odically chiefly for the purpose of spawning; that there exist large number of distinct races, differing in size, form, times of spawn ing and various other peculiarities, and that each of these races swims in separate schools, which move independently and have different seasons and grounds for spawning. Spawning takes place at various seasons, according to lo cality, some schools spawning in the late win ter, others in the spring and still others dur ing the autumn months., The eggs are small and adhere in masses to seaweeds, stones, etc., on the bottom. Vast numbers are thus depos ited in certain favored localities to which had dock and other fishes are attracted for the pur pose of devouring them. The number of eggs produced by each fish is not especially large, being from 10,000 to 50,000, but nevertheless the natural productiveness of the herring has been sufficient to overcome inroads caused by the fisheries and the much greater destruction due to the hordes of bluefish, sharks, porpoises, gulls and other enemies which accompany the schools in order to prey upon them. Having only few and small teeth, the herrings cannot capture active living creatures, but, as they swim with quick, nervous movements, water ip being continually taken into the mouth and strained through the gill-rakers. By this means great numbers of copepods and other minute forms of life, especially larval crustaceans, an nelids and mollusks are retained within the mouth and swallowed.
The herring fishery is of stupendous im portance to the countries of northern Europe.
This is especially true of the Scandinavian countries, whose hardy fishermen take from the sea annually not less than 1,500,000,000 pounds. Scotland takes from 150,000,000 to 200,000,000 pounds and the other maritime nations usually smaller quantities. The herring is not found in the Mediterranean. On this side of the At lantic the fishery is much less extensive, but is growing and is no doubt destined to reach a great, magnitude, especially in the waters of British America, which furnish each year about 250,000,000unds. Although found as far south as Carolina, the herring has a commercial importance only north of Cape Cod. The New England fisheries are chiefly confined to Maine. Most of the fish is sold fresh, either for food, or, early in the season, for cod bait; the remainder is salted or smoked. A favorite preparation is the partly smoked form of °bloaters.° Large quantities of young herrings are packed and sold as sardines. In the prosecution of the American fisheries use is made chiefly of several forms of drift or gill nets and seines; under favorable condi tions of great tidal movements, as in the Bay of Fundy, great numbers are captured in weirs.
A closely similar species (C. pallasii) is found on the Pacific coast of America, and is the object of a rapidly, extending fishery. Of the anadromous river-herrings or alewives (Pomolobus), two species are of great com mercial importance on the Atlantic coast of the United' States, particularly southward, though the fisheries extend from Maine to Florida. They enter the rivers to spawn about the same time as the shad, with which they are caught chiefly in pound nets and seines. The greater number are smoked.
To the extensive literature of the herring the following references will serve as an intro duction: Goode, 'Fishery Industries of the United States' (1884) ; Smith,