The common name for a family (Clupeidae) of about 70 genera of fishes in the order Clupeiformes. They are used extensively as food all over the world, and occur in all seas except the Arctic and Antarctic.
These fishes are the most primitive of the higher bony fishes. The fins have no supporting spines and are soft-rayed. There are usually four gill clefts, with the pectoral fins behind the gill openings. Scales are present on the body but absent on the head, and the swim bladder and lateral line may be missing.
The herring Clupea harengus has a circumpolar distribution. About eight other species of this genus are recognized, including the sprat or brisling (C. sprattus), which occurs in the Mediterranean and seas of western Europe, and the gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepedicmum), which is a common species in the Potomac River. In Europe the herring is either salted, pickled, or smoked and cured as kippers. In Canada and the United States young herring are canned as “sardines.”
The sardine, Sardina pilchardus, is a herring known commonly as the pilchard and is found along the European coasts in the Atlantic. The entire fish may be processed and preserved in oil, since the bones are soft and all parts are edible. Shads, herrings of the genus Alosa, occur in northern waters on both sides of the Atlantic. Anchovies comprise a family of herringlike fish, the Engraudidae, which together with the Clupeidae belong to the suborder Clupoidea. These fishes are found in the Mediterranean and range along the European coast as far north as Norway. See also Clupeiformes.
