Alosa mediocris
| Alosa mediocris | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Alosa mediocris |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Alosa mediocris | ||||||||||||
| ( Mitchill , 1814) |
Alosa mediocris , called Hickory shad in the USA, is a fish from the herring family ( Clupeidae ). It is common on the east coast of the United States from Florida to the Gulf of Maine . It belongs to the migratory fish . That is, it spawns in rivers but spends most of its life in the ocean. It is often fished and because of its similarity it is often confused with the closely related Alosa sapidissima .
Distribution and habitat, behavior
Alosa mediocris occurs from Florida to Maine , its greatest population density reaches it in the Chesapeake Bay and on the coast of North Carolina . Occurrences from Cape Cod , Massachusetts, in the north to St. Johns River , Florida, in the south are given. She appears in swarms . The mature fish migrate to the estuaries and freshwater rivers such as the St. Johns River (Florida) and Patuxent River (Maryland) to spawn in the spring . Their annual migrations are hardly documented.
Spawning takes place between December and June, earliest in Florida and later and later with increasing geographical latitude . The slightly sticky and bottom-lying (demersal) eggs have a diameter of about 1 mm and are apparently randomly scattered over gravel banks in moderately fast-flowing water. After spawning, the eggs drift along the river bed as the fry develop. The number of eggs varies between 43,000 and 475,000 per female and although all stages of the eggs and fry have been described, little is known about their distribution, ecology and growth rates.
Alosa mediocris can reach an age of up to seven years. Both sexes become sexually mature after 2–4 years and can spawn several times. Females are larger than males; in Florida, the average length of females is 37 cm and males 34 cm.
The fish are fish-eaters who mainly feed on other small fish. Also, crustaceans and squid are among their prey.
Sport fishing
The fish have relatively little economic value. However, they are becoming increasingly popular for sport fishermen . Several fishing magazine articles appeared in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Thereupon other fishing magazines ( Fly Fisherman 2002) and sports editors of local magazines (i.e., The Washington Post , 1988, 2000) took up the topic (“Hickory Shad are Running!”). Also, as the only one of the four Alosa species, they became more common in the 1990s. The most popular fishing waters are the Roanoke River and its tributaries Cashie, Tar and Neuse. Their economic importance is estimated here at several million dollars a year. The use is now strictly regulated because of the serious risk of overfishing.
Web links
- Alosa mediocris on Fishbase.org (English)
- Alosa mediocris inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Herdson, D. & Priede, I., 2009.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b T. A. Munroe: Herrings. Family Clupeidae . In: BB Collette and G. Klein-MacPhee (Eds.): Bigelow and Schroeder's Fishes of the Gulf of Maine . Smithsonian Institution Press , 2002.
- ↑ a b c d Philipp W. Jones, F. Douglas Martin, Jerry D. Hardy: Acipenseridae through Ictaluridae . In: Development of Fishes of the Mid-Atlantic Bight. An Atlas of Egg, Larval and Juvenile Stages . tape 1 . United States Fish and Wildlife Service , 1978.
- ^ A b c Edwin L. Cooper: Fishes of Pennsylvania and the Northeastern United States . Pennsylvania State University Press , 1983, ISBN 0-271-00337-5 .
- ^ Rulifson, RA 1994. Status of anadromous Alosa along the East Coast of North America. Anadromous Alosa symposium. Tidewater Chapter, American Fisheries Society. Pp. 134-158.
- ↑ a b Julianne E. Harris, Richard S. McBride, Roy O. Williams: Life History of Hickory Shad in the St. Johns River, Florida . In: Transactions of the American Fisheries Society . tape 136 , no. 6 , November 2007, pp. 1463–1471 , doi : 10.1577 / T06-187.1 ( PDF ).
- ^ A b Romeo J. Mansueti: Eggs, larvae, and young of the hickory shad, Alosa mediocris, with comments on its ecology in the estuary . In: Chesapeake Science . tape 3 , no. 3 , September 1962, p. 173-205 , doi : 10.2307 / 1350995 ( PDF ).
- ↑ North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission: Hickory shad. North Carolina Sports Fish Profiles. Factsheet, 2 pp. PDF
- ↑ Roger A. Rulifson, Christopher F Batsavage (2014): Population Demographics of Hickory Shad (Alosa Mediocris) during a Period of Population Growth. Fishery Bulletin 112 (2/3): 221-236.