Range and natural history
It often forms schools in bays, estuaries and inshore water. Feeding involves filtering microscopic plant plankton from the water. A silvery body, blue-green back, yellow fins and a single dark mark behind the gill opening help describe its appearance.
Winter reproduction is reported, with eggs and larvae in the plankton; exact timing and Gulf details are less certain in the source. Hybridization with Atlantic and Gulf menhaden is also reported. That overlap means a familiar menhaden shape or locality alone may not settle the identity of an individual.
Sources: Brevoortia smithi species summary
