Clupea pallasii

Pacific herring

A "flashy" fish

Pacific herring inhabit the inshore waters of the Pacific Ocean from Alaska to California. They have a trout-like body shape, large scales, a single dorsal fin, and a forked tail. Pacific herring can reach 46 centimetres in length, but the average length of an adult fish is 33 centimetres. Herring are beautiful fish with bluish green colouration on their backs and shiny silver sides and bellies. Herring use their silver colouration in a type of behaviour called "flashing"; when an individual turns quickly on it's side resulting in a brief silver flash visible to the watching eye. Herring travel in large schools, which can contain several million fish, and can be located by echosounders.

The Life of a Pacific herring

Adult herring spawn in late winter and early spring in relatively shallow inshore waters. Herring eggs are sticky and can be found stuck on seaweed, rocks, pilings, and even garbage. The eggs hatch after about 10 days, and the tiny larva feed on invertebrate eggs, small crustaceans, and microscopic algae. Throughout the summer months, the young herring continue to grow and begin to display schooling behaviour. In the fall, the young fish move out to deeper waters where they remain until they are sexually mature. Pacific herring may mature after their 2nd, 3rd, or 4th year and may live up to 8 years. Adult fish feed on young fishes, small crustaceans, and barnacle and shellfish larva. Herring are a very important food source in the ocean, as a huge variety of animals including birds, other fishes, crabs, jellyfish, seals, whales, and dolphins feed on them.

Fisheries of Pacific herring

Pacific herring are a very abundant species along the coast of British Columbia and support a huge commercial fishery. Most commercially caught herring is used to produce oil and meal, while some is smoked, dried, pickled, canned, or salted for human consumption. A fishery also exists for herring eggs (roe) laid on kelp, which when salted is called kazunoko-kombu and is a popular food item in Asia. Herring is also used as bait by sportfishers, as it is a popular food of some highly prized game fish, such as pacific salmon.

from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/

check out the acoustics page for herring "chirps",
and Dr. Ben Wilson's research on herring 'FRTs'!

References

www.fishbase.org

Carl, G.C. Some Common Marine Fishes. British Columbia Provincial Museum, 1964.

Hart, J.L. Pacific Fishes of Canada. Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 1974.

 to marine biodiversity index