The hickory shad (''Alosa mediocris''), fall herring, mattowacca,
freshwater taylor or bonejack is a member of the herring family
Clupeidae
Clupeidae is a family of ray-finned fishes, comprising, for instance, the herrings, shads, sardines, hilsa, and menhadens. The clupeoids include many of the most important food fishes in the world, and are also commonly caught for productio ...
, ranging along the
East Coast of the United States from Florida to the Gulf of Maine. It is an
anadromous fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
, meaning that it spawns in freshwater portions of rivers, but spends most of its life at sea. It is subject to fishing, both historic and current, but it is often confused with or simply grouped together with
American shad (''A. sapidissima'') in catch statistics.
Description
Hickory shad are elongate, laterally compressed fish with a tapering cross section.
The scales on the belly are serrated.
The fish is green-gray on its upper surface, becoming iridescent silver on the sides and white below.
[ A ]humeral spot
Humeral spot (from Latin ''humerus'', pertaining to the shoulder) is a mark or pattern found on several species of fish, typically above the pectoral fin
Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding fro ...
is present and is frequently followed by a short series of fainter spots.[ The hickory shad can be distinguished from American shad by its lower jaw, which will project beyond the snout in the hickory shad.
]
Distribution, habitat, and life history
Hickory shad range from northern Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
to the Gulf of Maine
, image =
, alt =
, caption =
, image_bathymetry = GulfofMaine2.jpg
, alt_bathymetry =
, caption_bathymetry = Major features of the Gulf of Maine
, location = Northeast coast of the ...
. The largest populations occur in Chesapeake Bay
The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...
and coastal North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
.[Munroe, T.A. (2002) Herrings. Family Clupeidae. In: Bigelow and Schroeder's Fishes of the Gulf of Maine. B. B. Collette and G. Klein-MacPhee (Eds.). Smithsonian Institution Press.] It is a schooling anadromous species that inhabits marine waters, probably never far from land. Adults enter estuaries
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environmen ...
and freshwater tributaries
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainag ...
from the St. John's River
The St. Johns River ( es, Río San Juan) is the longest river in the U.S. state of Florida and its most significant one for commercial and recreational use. At long, it flows north and winds through or borders twelve counties. The drop in eleva ...
, Florida, to the Patuxent River
The Patuxent River is a tributary of the Chesapeake Bay in the state of Maryland. There are three main river drainages for central Maryland: the Potomac River to the west passing through Washington, D.C., the Patapsco River to the northeast ...
, Maryland, to spawn
Spawn or spawning may refer to:
* Spawn (biology), the eggs and sperm of aquatic animals
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Spawn (character), a fictional character in the comic series of the same name and in the associated franchise
** '' Spawn: ...
during the spring. Their oceanic movements are poorly documented.[Jones, P.W., Martin, F.D. and Hardy Jr., J.D. 1978. Development of fishes of the Mid-Atlantic bight: An atlas of egg, larval and juvenile stages; Acipenseridae through Ictaluridae. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Volume 1:84-88. .][Cooper, E.L. 1983. Fishes of Pennsylvania and the Northeastern United States. Penn State University Press, University Park and London. pp. 47–50. .]
Spawning occurs from December to June, earliest in Florida and later with increasing latitude
In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north pol ...
.[Harris, Julianne E., R. S. McBride, and R. O. Williams. 2007. Life history of hickory shad in the St. Johns River, Florida. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. 136(6): 1463-1471. .] The slightly adhesive and demersal eggs
Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...
, about 1 mm in diameter, appear to be dispersed at random over gravel bars in moderate current
Currents, Current or The Current may refer to:
Science and technology
* Current (fluid), the flow of a liquid or a gas
** Air current, a flow of air
** Ocean current, a current in the ocean
*** Rip current, a kind of water current
** Current (stre ...
. After water hardening, the eggs become semibuoyant and develop as they drift along the bottom.[Mansueti, R.J. 1962. Eggs, larvae, and young of the hickory shad, ''Alosa mediocris'', with comments on its ecology in the estuary. Chesapeake Science 3: 173-205.] Fecundity ranges from 43,000 – 475,000 eggs per female, and although the developmental stages of eggs, larvae, and juveniles have been described, little is known concerning the distribution, ecology, and growth rates of these early life stages.fork length
Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology.
Overall length
* Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish m ...
and the average male is fork length.piscivorous
A piscivore () is a carnivorous animal that eats primarily fish. The name ''piscivore'' is derived . Piscivore is equivalent to the Greek-derived word ichthyophage, both of which mean "fish eater". Fish were the diet of early tetrapod evoluti ...
, feeding primarily on small fishes, although crustacean
Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...
s and squid contribute to their diet.mesenteric
The mesentery is an organ that attaches the intestines to the posterior abdominal wall in humans and is formed by the double fold of peritoneum. It helps in storing fat and allowing blood vessels, lymphatics, and nerves to supply the intestine ...
fat reserves developed prior to migration are metabolized en route.
Relationship with humans
Recreational fishery
Hickory shad have a relatively low commercial value, but an increasingly popular recreational fishery exists throughout the mid-Atlantic states. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, hickory shad articles appeared in sport-fishing magazines. Headlines such as “the tough fighting hickory shad swarm near the rock-studded fall line…” and “feast on Rappahannock River hickory shad action” brought attention to the fishery. Subsequently, specialty magazines and sports sections in national newspapers began proclaiming the excitement of hickory shad fishing (“HICKORY SHAD ARE RUNNING!”) and the recovery of the fishery. In the two most recent years of a North Carolina creel survey (2004-2005), hickory shad – a fish only present for two months of the year – moved from sixth- to the fourth-most targeted fish by coastal anglers. They are also taken by recreational fishing for use as bait to catch larger fish.
Literature
Most information about this species is contained in federal and state documents and management plans or theses from universities. Federal publications include reports from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's (ASMFC) Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Shad and River Herring. Prominent publications by state agencies include reports based on fishery monitoring programs in Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.[Limburg, K.E. and J.R. Waldman, editors. 2003. Biodiversity, status, and conservation of the world's shads. American Fisheries Society Symposium 35. Bethesda, Maryland.] American shad (''A. sapidissima''), which overlaps in distribution with hickory shad, has been frequently studied.[McBride, Richard S., and Richard E. Matheson. (2011). Florida's diadromous fishes: biology, ecology, conservation, and management. Florida Scientist. 74(3): 187-213]
Notes
References
External links
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q659295
Alosa
Sport fish
Fish described in 1814