The herring family includes about a hundred species of fish that live from the shores of the Arctic to the Antarctic. Most of them are very popular in cooking and are caught all over the globe. Let's find out which fish belong to the herring family. How are they characterized and how are they different from other species?
Common features of the family
The herring family includes ray-finned fish of medium and small sizes. They feed on aquatic plants and microorganisms, mainly as part of plankton, as well as tiny fish. Very often, herrings unite in numerous flocks of hundreds or even thousands of individuals. So, they provide themselves with protection from predators, because in a group the chances of being eaten are greatly reduced.
Like cyprinids, herrings lack adipose fins. They have an oval laterally compressed body, painted in gray and bluish hues. The tail of fish usually consists of two identical parts, between which there is a deep notch. There is only one fin on the back, the lateral linemissing or short. There are no scales on the head of herrings, and in some species it is not even on the body.
Species of the herring fish family: list
They prefer s alty waters and are inhabitants of the seas and open ocean spaces. However, in the herring family there are also inhabitants of fresh rivers and lakes, as well as anadromous species that swim in uns alted water bodies exclusively during migrations. Most of them live in the tropics and subtropics, they are much less common in cold seas.
Many species of herring fish are important fishery objects and are regularly present on store shelves. The most famous representatives:
- Atlantic herring;
- European sardine;
- Pacific herring;
- Atlantic menhaden;
- European sprat;
- big-eyed sprat;
- Black Sea-Caspian kilka;
- Oriental Oriental;
- alasha;
- shad;
- herring;
- iwashi;
- American shad;
- round belly herring.
Atlantic herring
This fish of the herring family has many names. She is called Murmansk, Norwegian, oceanic, multivertebral and, finally, Atlantic. It lives in the northern regions of the Atlantic Ocean, swimming in the B altic Sea, the Gulf of Bothnia, the White, Barents and Labrador and other seas.
She is painted light silver with a dark green or bluish back. In size, the fish reaches an average of 25 centimeters,some individuals grow up to 40-45 centimeters. It can weigh up to 1 kg. It received the name "multi-vertebral" because of the large number of vertebral ridges (55-60 pieces), which distinguishes it from other brethren. She has well-developed palatine teeth, and her lower jaw is noticeably pushed forward.
In warm seasons, herring keeps close to the surface, no deeper than 200-300 meters, in winter it sinks lower into the water column. It represents one of the most common species of the herring family, and marine fish in general. The Atlantic herring keeps in large flocks and feeds mainly on crustaceans, for example, amphipods and kalyanoids. Sometimes he eats small fish and even his fellows.
Due to the content of various vitamins and polyunsaturated fats, this herring is highly valued in cooking and is a frequent object of fishing. As a rule, fish is not thermally processed and is consumed raw, s alted, smoked or pickled. However, there are more exotic recipes in which it is fried, baked and even boiled.
Salaka
Salaka, or B altic herring, is considered a subspecies of the Atlantic herring. It lives in the B altic Sea, as well as in nearby low-salinity and fresh water bodies, such as the Curonian and Kalingrad lagoons. Fish can also be found in some lakes in Sweden.
She has a long body, a small rounded head and a slightly rounded belly. At the age of two to four years, the fish reaches 15-16 centimeters in length, and by the end of life it can grow up to 20 centimeters. There are also larger representatives, which are often considered a separate subspecies andare called giant salmon. They can even reach 40 centimeters in length and feed on small fish like sticklebacks, while small B altic herring consume only plankton. In the waters of the B altic Sea, they have several competitors that also belong to the herring family. These are sprats and sprats, the food of which also includes plankton from copepods cladocerans.
Spring is actively used in the food industry. It is harvested throughout the year. The fish is suitable for s alting, smoking, frying and baking. It is often used to make preserves and preserves under the names "sprats in oil" or "anchovies".
Far East sardine
Ivasi, or the Far Eastern sardine, is a valuable commercial fish of the herring family. It belongs to the sardinops genus and is similar to the Californian and South American sardines. The body of the fish is very elongated. Her belly is painted in a light silver color, and her back is very dark and has a blue tint. The transition between the two colors is indicated by a thin blue stripe with black spots along it.
The size of the fish usually does not exceed 20-30 centimeters. Moreover, its weight is only 100-150 grams. She has a thin tail with a deep notch in the middle. At the end it is painted in a dark, almost black color.
Sardine loves warmth and stays in the upper layers of the water. It is collected in large shoals, the length of which can reach 40 meters. This fish lives in the western part of the Pacific Ocean and is foundoff the coast of the Far East of Russia, Japan and Korea. In warm periods, it can reach Kamchatka and the northern tip of Sakhalin. Sardine does not tolerate a sharp drop in temperature. A sudden cold snap of 5-6 degrees can lead to mass death of fish.
Far Eastern sardine is divided into two subtypes, which differ in places and spawning periods. The southern subtype spawns near the Japanese island of Kyushu, sailing to it already in December-January. Northern sardines begin spawning in March, swimming up to the shores of Honshu Island and the Korean Peninsula.
Atlantic Menhaden
Atlantic menhaden is a medium-sized fish. Adults, as a rule, reach a length of 20-32 centimeters, but some can grow up to 50 centimeters. The menhaden has a larger head and higher flanks than the herring and sardine. The color of the fish is light below and dark in the back area. The sides are covered with small unevenly arranged scales. Behind the gill cover is a large black spot, followed by six more rows of small spots.
In our area, menhaden is not the most famous representative of the herring family. It lives in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of North America. Approximately 90% of the total volume of this fish caught is in the United States. Its habitual diet consists of plankton, algae and small copepods. The menhaden itself is often prey for whales, waterfowl and saithe.
In winter, fish stay in the open ocean, not diving below 50 meters. With the arrival of the warm seasonit moves towards the shore, often swimming into closed water bodies. Menhaden is not found in fresh waters, but can live in low-salinity. In summer, fish swim in the shelf area, in deltas and near river mouths.
This very fatty and nutritious fish is a valuable commercial species. However, it is not easy to catch her. To do this, you need to take into account a lot of factors related to the movement and speed of sea currents, wind direction and other external factors.
Black Sea-Caspian sprat
Tulki is a genus of small fish of the herring family that live in fresh and brackish waters. The Black Sea-Caspian kilka, or sausage, grows on average up to 7-8 centimeters, and the maximum size reaches 15 centimeters. In this case, the puberty of the fish occurs when the length of its body reaches 5 centimeters. Due to its miniature size, it becomes a prey even for medium-sized species. It is hunted by flounders, pike perches and other members of the herring family. The kilka itself feeds exclusively on plankton.
The tulka is painted in silver or golden yellow, and its back has a greenish or blue tint. The fish lives in the Black, Caspian and Azov seas, swimming in the water column. During spawning, she visits low-s alt areas of the seas, enters their estuaries, as well as the Dnieper and Danube.
Migration towards the main spawning grounds takes place in April-May. During such seasonal movements, fish are usually caught. It is used in s alted, smoked and dried form, and is also used inproducts for agriculture.
European sprat
Sprat is a small commercial fish of the herring family, painted in silver-gray shades. In size, it is usually slightly larger than a sprat and reaches puberty only when it grows up to 12 centimeters in length. The maximum size of the fish is 15-16 centimeters. Spawning time of fish falls on the spring-summer period. Then it moves away from the coast and throws eggs directly into the sea to a depth of 50 meters. Like other small fish of the herring family, it feeds on plankton and fry.
European sprat, or sprat, includes three subspecies: northern (seas of Western and Southern Europe), Black Sea (Adriatic and Black Sea) and B altic (Riga and Finnish Gulfs of the B altic Sea). Canned fish with butter is very tasty and popular at the festive table. For such preparation, the B altic subspecies is usually used - it is larger and fatter than the rest. Pies are usually made from the Black Sea sprat or they are s alted whole. In wildlife, it is a valuable source of energy for dolphins, beluga whales and large fish.
Alasha
Alasha, or sardinella, is a medium-sized fish that lives in warm tropical and subtropical waters. It inhabits the waters of the Atlantic - from the coast of Gibr altar to the Republic of South Africa, from Massachusetts in the USA to the coast of Argentina. The fish lives in the Caribbean, near the Bahamas and the Antilles. Because of this, it is also called the tropical sardine.
Alasha's sides and belly are golden yellow, and her back has a green tint. Outwardly, this fish of the herring family resembles an ordinary European sardine, differing from it in a more elongated body and a convex belly. On average, it grows up to 25–35 centimeters long. It reaches its maximum size at the age of five, and already in the first or second year of life, it begins puberty.
Sardinella feeds on plankton and lives in the upper layers of the ocean. It usually swims at a depth of 50-80 meters, but from time to time it can go down to 350 meters. Due to living in warm reservoirs, she does not wait for the onset of spring, but spawns all year round. Fish lay eggs in the shallow waters of lagoons and river estuaries, where the fry then develop.
American shad
The American or Atlantic shad is one of the largest marine fish of the herring family. On average, it grows up to 40-50 centimeters. However, the maximum length of the caught fish reached 76 centimeters, and its weight was about five kilograms. The shad is painted in a light silver color with a dark blue tint in the back area. Its body is flattened from the sides and stretched forward, and the belly is slightly convex and rounded. Behind the gills is a row of black dots, decreasing in size as you move away towards the tail.
Initially, the shad was native to the waters of the Atlantic from the island of Newfoundland to the peninsula of Florida. Over time, it was successfully acclimatized off the eastern shores of the Pacific Ocean, as well as insome rivers in North America. But the shad does not live in fresh waters. There it is migratory and appears only during the spawning season from March to May. The rest of the time, the fish lives in the s alty waters of the seas and oceans.
Despite the impressive size of the shad, the basis of its diet is plankton, small crustaceans and fry. In rivers, it can feed on the larvae of various insects. The spawning of the fish occurs after reaching the age of four years. In spring, females go to shallow water and release up to 600 thousand eggs without attaching them to any substrate. Inhabitants of more southern regions usually die immediately after spawning. Fish in the northern part of the range, on the contrary, return to the open sea to produce new offspring the next year.
Eastern Ilisha
Another tropical representative of the family is the ilisha herring. It lives in the warm waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans and is found mainly in the Yellow, Java and East China Seas. It calmly tolerates low salinity, so it often spawns in shallow waters near river mouths. To lay eggs, the ilisha gathers in large flocks and migrates already as part of a group. After spawning, the schools break up, and the fish swim away from the coast one by one.
Ilisha belongs to the large herring species: the maximum size can be 60 centimeters. It has a relatively small head with a protruding lower jaw. The body of the fish is painted in a gray-silver color with a dark back and dark edging of the caudal fins. dark graythe spot also has a single dorsal fin.
Rubber herring
The genus roundbelly includes about ten species of fish of small and medium sizes. They all live in the tropical and subtropical waters of the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. They differ from other members of the family in their spindle-shaped rounded body and the absence of keeled scales on the belly. These are popular commercial fish, which are caught for pickling and canning. They are also eaten fried and boiled.
Common roundbelly live in the northwestern part of the Atlantic from the Bay of Fundy off the coast of the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Like most herrings, they approach shallow waters only in the spring and summer, and return to the open sea when it gets colder. They stay close to the surface and feed mainly on zooplankton.
Rubbelly grow up to 33 centimeters in length. At the age of two years, when the fish reach sexual maturity, they reach a length of 15–17 centimeters. Interestingly, females begin to spawn even in winter. Therefore, in the summer, when the water gets warmer, not only adults swim to the shores, but also slightly grown fry. They swim at a depth of 20-40 meters without sinking below. Fish live for about 6 years.
Spotted Sardinella
Spotted sardinella live exclusively in tropical waters with fairly high salinity. They are found from the coasts of East Africa and Madagascar to Australia, Oceania and the southern islands of Japan. The fish live inRed, East China and other seas of the range. For spawning, they make short migrations within the water bodies in which they live.
This fish has an elongated body resembling a spindle. The maximum size is 27 centimeters, although usually sardinella only reach 20 centimeters. It is mainly caught for local consumption. Unlike most fish of the herring family, spotted sardinella do not unite in flocks and shoals, but swim singly, dispersing across the oceans. It can be s alted or canned, but fish are not caught on a large commercial scale.
