You can sponsor this page

Clupea harengus Linnaeus, 1758

Atlantic herring
Add your observation in Fish Watcher
Native range | All suitable habitat | Point map | Year 2050
This map was computer-generated and has not yet been reviewed.
Clupea harengus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
Upload your photos and videos
Pictures | Videos | Sounds | Stamps, coins, misc. | Google image
Image of Clupea harengus (Atlantic herring)
Clupea harengus
Picture by Svensen, R.


Iceland country information

Common names: Sild, Síld, Sinnepssild
Occurrence: native
Salinity: brackish
Abundance: | Ref:
Importance: highly commercial | Ref: FAO, 1994
Aquaculture: | Ref:
Regulations: | Ref:
Uses: no uses
Comments: Also Ref. 188, 6683.
National Checklist:
Country Information: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/ic.html
National Fisheries Authority: http://brunnur.stjr.is/interpro/sjavarutv/english.nsf/pages/front
Occurrences: Occurrences Point map
Main Ref: Jonsson, G., 1992
National Database:

Common names from other countries

Classification / Names Nombres comunes | Sinónimos | Catalog of Fishes(Género, Especie) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

> Clupeiformes (Herrings) > Clupeidae (Herrings, shads, sardines, menhadens)
Etymology: Clupea: Latin, clupea = sardine, derived from Clupeus = shield; doubtless a reference to the scales covering the body of the fish + Greek, odous = teeth (Ref. 45335).
  More on author: Linnaeus.

Issue
The subspecies were not characterized well enough, that unless there is more evidence presented, Clupea harengus should be considered as one species with several known populations (S.Kullander, pers.comm. 07/09).

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecología

marino; salobre bentopelágico; oceanodromo (Ref. 51243); rango de profundidad 0 - 364 m (Ref. 58426), usually 0 - 200 m (Ref. 6683).   Temperate; 1°C - 18°C (Ref. 188); 80°N - 33°N, 95°W - 70°E

Distribución Países | Áreas FAO | Ecosistemas | Ocurrencias, apariciones | Point map | Introducciones | Faunafri

North Atlantic: in the west, it ranges from southwestern Greenland and Labrador southward to South Carolina, USA. In the east, it ranges from Iceland and southern Greenland southward to the northern Bay of Biscay and eastward to Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya in Russia, including the Baltic Sea (Ref. 188).

Length at first maturity / Tamaño / Peso / Age

Maturity: Lm 16.7  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 45.0 cm SL macho / no sexado; (Ref. 37032); common length : 30.0 cm SL macho / no sexado; (Ref. 37032); peso máximo publicado: 1.1 kg (Ref. 6114); edad máxima reportada: 25 años (Ref. 89560)

Short description Claves de identificación | Morfología | Morfometría

Espinas dorsales (total) : 0; Radios blandos dorsales (total) : 13 - 21; Espinas anales: 0; Radios blandos anales: 12 - 23; Vértebra: 51 - 60. Slender fish with a round belly. Scutes without prominent keel; 12 to 16 post-pelvic scutes (Ref. 188). No median notch in upper jaw; operculum without radiating bony striae; the posterior border of its gill opening is evenly rounded. It is blue to greenish-blue dorsally, becoming silvery ventrally. No distinctive dark spots on the body or fins (Ref. 188).

Biología     Glosario (por ej. epibenthic)

Herring schools move between spawning and wintering grounds in coastal areas and feeding grounds in open water by following migration patterns learned from earlier year classes (Ref. 88171). Juveniles (up to 2 years) shoal close inshore, while adults are found more offshore (Ref. 6683). Adults spend the day in deeper water, but rise to shallower water at night (Ref. 89562). Light is an important factor in controlling their vertical distribution. A facultative zooplanktivorous filter-feeder, i.e., it can switch to filter-feeding if the food density and particle size are appropriate (Ref. 28664). Feed mainly on copepods finding food by visual sense. Herring schools often attract predators such as fish, birds, and marine mammals (Ref. 89563). Schooling, silvery sides, excellent hearing (capable of detecting frequencies between 30-4,000 Hz , Refs. 89391, 89564, 89566), and very fast escape response act as anti-predator devices (Ref. 28664). The most important races in the East Atlantic are the winter-spawning Norwegian and Icelandic herring, the autumn spawning Icelandic and North Sea herring and the Baltic Sea herring. Utilized fresh, dried or salted, smoked, canned and frozen; can be fried, broiled, microwaved and baked (Ref. 9988).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturities | Reproducción | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larva

The herring matures between 2-9 years (Refs. 35388, 82767, 89571). Herring populations are known to use traditional spawning grounds, many of which are along shallow coastal areas (15-40 m depth) or on offshore banks down to 200 m (Refs. 6684, 89572). Spawning usually occurs on gravel or rock bottoms, with the exception of Baltic populations which show a preference for shallow (less than 10 m depth) seaweed beds (Refs. 89520, 89572). Each population spawns only once a year over a relatively short time period (Ref. 89573). At least one population is spawning in any one month of the year, each having a different spawning time and place. The herring is a demersal spawner that releases a ribbon of sticky eggs that sink to the sea bed (Ref. 89574) and adhere to the substrate. The eggs released by a spawning population may be several layers thick which may deprive eggs in the bottom layers of oxygen, causing egg mortality (Ref. 89563). Although higher fecundities were reported earlier (e.g. Ref. 74523), fecundity now ranges from 10,000-60,000 eggs (Ref. 89571). Hatching may take up to 3 weeks, depending on temperature (Ref. 89571). Larvae are pelagic and drift with the current. Note: it is impossible to summarize briefly the wide range of spawning strategies of Atlantic herring; the best reviews are those of Svetovidov (Refs. 4608, 4609) for the Eastern Atlantic Ocean and Hildebrand (Ref. 4607) for the Western Atlantic Ocean.

Main reference Upload your references | Referencias | Coordinador | Colaboradores

Whitehead, P.J.P., 1985. FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 7. Clupeoid fishes of the world (suborder Clupeoidei). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of the herrings, sardines, pilchards, sprats, shads, anchovies and wolf-herrings. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(7/1):1-303. Rome: FAO. (Ref. 188)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 04 February 2009

CITES (Ref. 128078)

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless




Human uses

Pesquerías: muy comercial; pesca deportiva: si
FAO(pesquerías: producción, species profile; publication : search) | FIRMS (Stock assessments) | FishSource | Sea Around Us

Más información

Life cycle
Reproducción
Maturities
Fecundities
Spawnings
Spawning aggregations
Egg(s)
Egg developments
Larva
Dinámica larvaria
Distribution
Países
Áreas FAO
Ecosistemas
Ocurrencias, apariciones
Introducciones
BRUVS - Videos
Anatomy
Gill areas
Cerebros
Otolitos
Physiology
Body compositions
Nutrients
Oxygen consumptions
Tipo de natación
Swimming speeds
Visual pigment(s)
Sonidos de peces
Diseases / Parasites
Toxicities (LC50s)
Genetics
Genética
Electrophoreses
Heritabilities
Human related
Aquaculture systems
Perfiles de acuicultura
Razas
Ciguatera cases
Stamps, coins, misc.
Outreach
Colaboradores
References
Referencias

Herramientas

Special reports

Download XML

Fuentes de Internet

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 115969): 0.5 - 11.2, mean 6.6 (based on 912 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.6250   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00562 (0.00495 - 0.00638), b=3.09 (3.05 - 3.13), in cm Total Length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Nivel trófico (Ref. 69278):  3.4   ±0.1 se; based on diet studies.
Resiliencia (Ref. 120179):  Medio, población duplicada en un tiempo mínimo de 1.4-4.4 años (rm=0.1-0.5; K=0.2-0.6; tm=2-5; tmax=25; Fec=17,300-301,000).
Prior r = 0.44, 95% CL = 0.29 - 0.65, Based on 53 full stock assessments.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate vulnerability (41 of 100).
Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649):  Low to moderate vulnerability (29 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Low.