False Herring

Taxonomy

Harengula clupeola was first formally described as Clupea clupeola in 1829 by the French zoologist Georges Cuvier with its type locality given as Martinique. In 1847 Achille Valenciennes described Harengua latulus, the first use of the genus name Harengula and in 1861 Theodore Gill designated H. latulus as the type species of the genus Harengula. H. latulus is now considered to be a junior synonym of Clupea clupeola. The genus Harengula is classified within the family Dorosomatidae which belongs to the suborder Clupeoidei in the order Clupeiformes.

Description

Harengula clupeola has a slender body with a weakly curved ventral profile. The dorsal fin is supported by between 15 and 21 soft rays while the anal fin contains between 12 and 23 soft rays. There is a wide tooth plate on the tongue and another behind it, these are between 3 and 5 times as wide as their total length. The rear toothplate has a clear bulge at its front. It scales have a rather strong attachment and are not easily shed.It is a silvery fish with a dark greenish back and an indistinct yellow or light orange spot on the margin of the operculum. There is no dark tip to the dorsal fin. This species has a maximum published total length of 22.5 cm (8.9 in).

Distribution and habitat

Harengula clupeola is found in the Western Atlantic Ocean where it occurs from eastern Florida and the Bahamas through the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, south to Santa Catarina in Brazil. This is a coastal, pelagic species found in estuaries and lagoons in marine and brackish waters.

Biology

Harengula clupeola is a pelagic, schooling fish. It is a nocturnal predator feeding on pteropods, polychaetes, fish eggs, and zooplankton, particularly copepods. It forms schools to spawn and spawns a number of times per season.

Additional field notes

False herring form coastal schools across marine and brackish habitats.

Sources: Harengula clupeola species summary

Close-up identification

FishBase describes firmly attached scales that are not easily shed, a dorsal-fin tip without dark pigment, and a faint yellow or orange patch at the edge of the gill cover. Smaller individuals often school along sandy beaches. The species also uses estuaries and lagoons and tolerates low salinities.

Sources: Harengula clupeola species summary