The Alosidae, or the shads, are a
family
Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
of
clupeiform
Clupeiformes is the order of ray-finned fish that includes the herring family, Clupeidae, and the anchovy family, Engraulidae. The group includes many of the most important forage and food fish.
Clupeiformes are physostomes, which means that th ...
fishes. The family currently comprises four genera worldwide, and about 34 species.
The shads are
pelagic
The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean, and can be further divided into regions by depth (as illustrated on the right). The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or wa ...
(open water) schooling fish, of which many are
anadromous
Fish migration is mass relocation by fish from one area or body of water to another. Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, on time scales ranging from daily to annually or longer, and over distances ranging from a few metres to thousan ...
or even landlocked. Several species are of commercial importance, e.g. in the genus ''
'' (river herrings), ''Brevoortia'' (menhadens), and ''European pilchard">Sardina
Sardina may refer to:
* Alexander-Martin Sardina, German-Italian scientist and former member of parliament
* ''Sardina pilchardus'', the European pilchard in the monotypic genus ''Sardina''
* ''Case Sardina'', a district of the city of Calcinaia
...
''. The Alosidae were previously included in the herring family Clupeidae.
*The Shad Foundation
*Shad Planking, a Virginia political gathering featuring the consumption of American shad