Clupea

The species of Clupea belong to the larger family Clupeidae (herrings, shads, sardines, menhadens), which comprises some 200 species that share similar features. They are silvery-colored fish that have a single dorsal fin, which is soft, without spines. They have no lateral line and have a protruding lower jaw. Their size varies between subspecies: the Baltic herring (Clupea harengus membras) is small, 14 to 18 centimeters; the proper Atlantic herring (C. h. harengus) can grow to about {{convert|45.72|cm|in|abbr=on}} and weigh up {{convert|680|g|lb|abbr=on}}; and Pacific herring grow to about {{convert|38|cm|in|abbr=on}}.

• †Clupea aenemtensis Sytchevskaya, 1985 (Miocene of Kamchatka, Russia){{Cite journal |last1=Yabumoto |first1=Yoshitaka |last2=Nazarkin |first2=Mikhail V. |date=2018 |title=A New Miocene Herring, Clupea macrocephala , from Sakaki Town, Hanishina County, Nagano, Japan |url=http://www.bioone.org/doi/10.2517/2018PR002 |journal=Paleontological Research |language=en |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=352–363 |doi=10.2517/2018PR002 |bibcode=2018PalRe..22..352Y |issn=1342-8144|url-access=subscription }}
• †Clupea hanishinaensis Yabumoto & Nazarkin, 2020 (=C. macrocephala Yabumoto & Nazarkin, 2018) (Middle Miocene of Japan){{Cite journal |last1=Yabumoto |first1=Yoshitaka |last2=Nazarkin |first2=Mihkail V. |date=2020-07-01 |title=Clupea hanishinaensis Nomen Novum, a Replacement Name for the Miocene Clupeid Fish Clupea macrocephala Yabumoto and Nazarkin, 2018 from Nagano, Japan |url=https://bioone.org/journals/paleontological-research/volume-24/issue-3/2019PR011/Clupea-hanishinaensis-Nomen-Novum-a-Replacement-Name-for-the-Miocene/10.2517/2019PR011.full |journal=Paleontological Research |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=238 |doi=10.2517/2019PR011 |bibcode=2020PalRe..24..238Y |issn=1342-8144|url-access=subscription }}
• ?†Clupea tiejei David, 1943 (Late Miocene of California){{Cite book |last=California Academy of Sciences |url=https://archive.org/details/occasionalpaper00calif/occasionalpaper00calif/mode/2up |title=Occasional papers of the California Academy of Sciences |date=1890 |publisher=San Francisco : California Academy of Sciences |others=California Academy of Sciences}}

Many other fossil species have been previously placed into this genus, due to it being a former wastebasket taxon for herring-like fossil fish.{{Cite web |title=PBDB Taxon |url=https://paleobiodb.org/classic/basicTaxonInfo?taxon_no=435127 |access-date=2024-12-04 |website=paleobiodb.org}} As the only known reliable fossils of this genus are from the Miocene of the Pacific Ocean, it has been suggested that Clupea originated in the Pacific Ocean in the Miocene, with the Pacific herring descending from this ancestral source population. Some Clupea then dispersed to the Atlantic Ocean via the Arctic Ocean when the Bering Strait opened for the first time about 5 million years ago, during the Early Pliocene, with these becoming the ancestors of the Atlantic herring.

See Atlantic herring for videos of juvenile herring feeding by catching copepods.

File:Heringsschwarm.gif migrating to their spawning grounds in the Baltic Sea]]

Predators of herring include humans, seabirds, dolphins, porpoises, striped bass, seals, sea lions, whales, sharks, dog fish, tuna, cod, salmon, and halibut. Other large fish also feed on adult herring.{{citation needed |date=April 2012}}

Young herring feed on phytoplankton and as they mature they start to consume larger organisms. Adult herring feed on zooplankton, tiny animals that are found in oceanic surface waters, and small fish and fish larvae. Copepods and other tiny crustaceans are the most common zooplankton eaten by herring. During daylight herring stay in the safety of deep water, feeding at the surface only at night when there is less chance of being seen by predators. They swim along with their mouths open, filtering the plankton from the water as it passes through their gills.

File:Herring catch-Sep200.jpg

Adult herring are harvested for their meat and eggs, and they are often used as baitfish. The trade in herring is an important sector of many national economies. In Europe the fish has been called the "silver of the sea", and its trade has been so significant to many countries that it has been regarded as the most commercially important fishery in history.[http://www.coml.org/discoveries/discoveries/historical/hmap-important.htm Herring] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100814022825/http://www.coml.org/discoveries/discoveries/historical/hmap-important.htm |date=2010-08-14 }}, from [http://www.coml.org/about Census of Marine Life] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100804181601/http://www.coml.org/about |date=2010-08-04 }}, 2010. Environmental Defense have suggested that the Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) fishery is one of the more environmentally responsible fisheries.[http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=15890 Eco-Best Fish - Safe for the environment], from [http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=382 Environmental Defense Fund], 2010.

File:Olausmagnus scaniamarket.jpg, 1555]]

{{Refbegin}}

• {{FishBase genus|genus = Clupea|month = January|year = 2006}}
• O'Clair, Rita M. and O'Clair, Charles E., "Pacific herring," Southeast Alaska's Rocky Shores: Animals. pg. 343–346. Plant Press: Auke Bay, Alaska (1998). {{ISBN|0-9664245-0-6}}

{{Refend}}

{{Reflist|33em}}

{{herrings|state=expanded}}

{{forage fish}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q209907}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Clupeidae

Category:Commercial fish

Category:Marine fish genera

Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus