What is the Atlantic herring?

The Atlantic herring ( Clupea harengus ) is a commercially vital fish species within the Clupeidae family. These streamlined fish possess silvery sides and bluish-green backs, typically growing to 35 cm in length and around 750 grams in weight. Atlantic herring inhabit depths of 11 to 200 meters in coastal and continental shelf waters, feeding on copepods, zooplankton, krill, and fish larvae. They are preyed upon by larger fish, seabirds, and marine mammals, making them a crucial forage fish in the Atlantic food web. Though once declining due to overfishing, conservation efforts have helped populations recover. They are harvested for food, bait, and fish oil and are processed in various ways, including fresh, frozen, smoked, and canned.

Where is the Atlantic herring usually found?

The Atlantic herring is commonly found in the North Atlantic Ocean, ranging from North Carolina's coastal waters to the Davis Strait and Baffin Bay in the western Atlantic. In the eastern Atlantic, their distribution extends from the Bay of Biscay to Svalbard and Novaya Zemlya, including the waters surrounding Iceland. These fish typically inhabit depths of 11 to 200 meters (36 to 660 feet) in coastal and continental shelf waters but can be found as deep as 400 meters (1,300 feet). They ascend to shallower waters at night to feed.

What does an Atlantic herring look like?

The Atlantic herring is a streamlined fish with silvery sides and a blue or greenish-blue back. Adults can grow up to 35 cm (14 inches), but some have reached 44–45 cm (17.3–17.7 inches). They typically weigh 750 grams (1.7 pounds), but can reach a maximum weight of 1.1 kg (2.4 pounds). Atlantic herring have a small head, a protruding lower jaw, a round belly, and a forked tail. They are typically found in coastal and continental shelf waters at depths of 11 to 200 meters (36 to 660 feet), but can be found as deep as 400 meters (1,300 feet). At night, they swim up the water column to feed in shallower waters.

What do Atlantic herring eat?

The Atlantic herring is a filter feeder, consuming copepods, zooplankton, krill, and fish larvae. As an important forage fish, the Atlantic herring serves as prey for larger fishes like skates, sharks, mackerel, and tuna, as well as seabirds and marine mammals such as seals and porpoises. Additionally, bottom-dwelling fish, including cod, haddock, winter flounder, and red hake, consume Atlantic herring eggs.

How do Atlantic herring move and live together in the ocean?

Atlantic herring ( Clupea harengus ) are known for traveling in large schools, migrating between feeding, spawning, and overwintering areas. These streamlined fish, recognized by their silvery sides and bluish-green backs, typically inhabit depths of 11 to 200 meters, but can be found as deep as 400 meters. During the night, Atlantic herring swim up to shallower waters to feed on copepods, zooplankton, krill, and fish larvae. This schooling behavior provides safety, hydrodynamic advantages for feeding, and simplified mate finding. When faced with predators, herring form tight schools. They mature around 4 to 5 years old and can live up to 15 years.

Why are Atlantic herring important to humans and ocean ecosystems?

Atlantic herring are vital to both humans and ocean ecosystems. They are a major commercial fish, harvested for food , bait , and fish oil . Atlantic herring serve as a food source for larger fish, seabirds, and marine mammals, making them an important forage fish in the Atlantic food web. They also provide essential vitamins and minerals such as vitamins A, D, E, K, and B, as well as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and iron.

Atlantic herring

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Illustration of an Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus harengus), showing a slender, silvery fish with a forked tail and single dorsal fin.

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Related Topics:: surströmming; Dogger Bank herring; Downs herring; Buchan herring; Baltic herring

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Schooling Atlantic herring (*Clupea harengus*) travel in large schools, migrating between feeding, spawning, and overwintering areas.

Atlantic herring

fish

Also known as: Clupea harengus, Clupea harengus harengus, common herring(Show More)

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Top Questions

What is the Atlantic herring?
The Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) is a commercially vital fish species within the Clupeidae family. These streamlined fish possess silvery sides and bluish-green backs, typically growing to 35 cm in length and around 750 grams in weight.

Atlantic herring inhabit depths of 11 to 200 meters in coastal and continental shelf waters, feeding on copepods, zooplankton, krill, and fish larvae. They are preyed upon by larger fish, seabirds, and marine mammals, making them a crucial forage fish in the Atlantic food web.

Though once declining due to overfishing, conservation efforts have helped populations recover. They are harvested for food, bait, and fish oil and are processed in various ways, including fresh, frozen, smoked, and canned.
2 Britannica Sources
1. herring
2. Atlantic herring
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Where is the Atlantic herring usually found?
The Atlantic herring is commonly found in the North Atlantic Ocean, ranging from North Carolina's coastal waters to the Davis Strait and Baffin Bay in the western Atlantic. In the eastern Atlantic, their distribution extends from the Bay of Biscay to Svalbard and Novaya Zemlya, including the waters surrounding Iceland.

These fish typically inhabit depths of 11 to 200 meters (36 to 660 feet) in coastal and continental shelf waters but can be found as deep as 400 meters (1,300 feet). They ascend to shallower waters at night to feed.
1 Britannica Source
1. Atlantic herring
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What does an Atlantic herring look like?
The Atlantic herring is a streamlined fish with silvery sides and a blue or greenish-blue back. Adults can grow up to 35 cm (14 inches), but some have reached 44–45 cm (17.3–17.7 inches). They typically weigh 750 grams (1.7 pounds), but can reach a maximum weight of 1.1 kg (2.4 pounds).

Atlantic herring have a small head, a protruding lower jaw, a round belly, and a forked tail. They are typically found in coastal and continental shelf waters at depths of 11 to 200 meters (36 to 660 feet), but can be found as deep as 400 meters (1,300 feet). At night, they swim up the water column to feed in shallower waters.
3 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What do Atlantic herring eat?
The Atlantic herring is a filter feeder, consuming copepods, zooplankton, krill, and fish larvae. As an important forage fish, the Atlantic herring serves as prey for larger fishes like skates, sharks, mackerel, and tuna, as well as seabirds and marine mammals such as seals and porpoises. Additionally, bottom-dwelling fish, including cod, haddock, winter flounder, and red hake, consume Atlantic herring eggs.
4 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
How do Atlantic herring move and live together in the ocean?
Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) are known for traveling in large schools, migrating between feeding, spawning, and overwintering areas. These streamlined fish, recognized by their silvery sides and bluish-green backs, typically inhabit depths of 11 to 200 meters, but can be found as deep as 400 meters.

During the night, Atlantic herring swim up to shallower waters to feed on copepods, zooplankton, krill, and fish larvae. This schooling behavior provides safety, hydrodynamic advantages for feeding, and simplified mate finding. When faced with predators, herring form tight schools. They mature around 4 to 5 years old and can live up to 15 years.
3 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Why are Atlantic herring important to humans and ocean ecosystems?
Atlantic herring are vital to both humans and ocean ecosystems. They are a major commercial fish, harvested for food, bait, and fish oil. Atlantic herring serve as a food source for larger fish, seabirds, and marine mammals, making them an important forage fish in the Atlantic food web. They also provide essential vitamins and minerals such as vitamins A, D, E, K, and B, as well as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and iron.
3 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Atlantic herring, (Clupea harengus), species of herring in the family Clupeidae (order Clupeiformes) and one of the most commercially important fish in the world. Atlantic herring travel in large schools, migrating between feeding, spawning, and overwintering areas (see also schooling behavior). They occur on both sides of the North Atlantic Ocean, and the species’s geographic range extends from coastal waters and continental shelf areas off of North Carolina north to the Davis Strait and Baffin Bay in the western Atlantic and from the Bay of Biscay north to Svalbard and Novaya Zemyla in the eastern Atlantic and Arctic oceans. Atlantic herring are also found in the waters around Iceland.

Natural history

Atlantic herring are small, streamlined fish with silvery sides and blueish or greenish blue backs. Adults typically reach lengths of up to 35 cm (14 inches), though the largest known individuals have reached 44–45 cm (17.3–17.7 inches) in length. An Atlantic herring has a small head with a protruding lower jaw and a streamlined body with a round belly and a forked tail. The fish’s weight is typically 750 grams (1.7 pounds), with a maximum weight of 1.1 kg (2.4 pounds).

Atlantic herring are usually found in depths ranging from 11 to 200 meters (36 to 660 feet) in coastal and continental shelf waters, although they may be found in water as deep as 400 meters (1,300 feet). At night, they migrate up the water column to shallower waters to feed. The species is an important forage fish (that is, a schooling, plankton-eating fish that serves as prey for larger fishes) in the Atlantic food web. It is a filter feeder that consumes copepods, zooplankton, krill, and fish larvae, and it is preyed on by other fishes (such as skates, sharks, mackerel, and tuna) as well as by seabirds and marine mammals (such as seals and porpoises). Bottom-dwelling fish, such as cod, haddock, winter flounder, and red hake, feed on Atlantic herring eggs.

The Atlantic herring is harvested by countries, including the United States, Canada, Norway, and Iceland, and is used as food, bait for fishing, and fish oil. The fish is sold fresh, frozen, smoked, salted, pickled, or canned as sardines. Atlantic herring roe (a clustered mass of eggs) is also sold for consumption.

Fish eggsRoe of the Atlantic herring (*Clupea harengus*).

The spawning times for Atlantic herring vary by location: populations living in colder areas spawn during the high summer months, and those living in temperate and marginally subtropical areas spawn later in the year. Females deposit their eggs on the ocean floor in rocky, gravely, or sandy areas. Several sources report that one female can produce 30,000 to 200,000 eggs during her lifetime. Sometimes the females in large schools produce so many eggs that they cover the ocean floor in a layer several centimeters deep. Depending on the temperature of the water, the eggs hatch in 7–10 days. As juvenile Atlantic herring grow, their small size and abundance make them attractive prey for many organisms. Female and male Atlantic herring grow quickly. Most can reproduce when they are 4 or 5 years old, although some sources report that some individuals can reach sexual maturity as young as age 2 or as old as age 9. Most Atlantic herring can live as long as 15 years.

Conservation status

The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) classifies the Atlantic herring as a species of least concern. During the 1970s, the global population of Atlantic herring declined substantially because of overfishing; however, several countries passed laws that established catch limits, and the global population began to recover slowly. Although population sizes had increased substantially by the 2020s, Atlantic herring stocks still remained largely depleted, with some estimates placing the species at only 26 percent of its targeted biomass goal. Government officials on both sides of the Atlantic continue to monitor population changes and adjust harvesting rates as needed (see also sustainability).

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Animalia
Class: Teleostei
Order: Clupeiformes
Family: Clupeidae
Genus: Clupea

Species of Least Concern

In January 2024 the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the two cases Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Commerce “in tandem.” The cases were brought by Atlantic herring fishers in New Jersey and Rhode Island who objected to a regulation requiring them to pay for monitors—who verify that the fishers do not exceed catch limits—to accompany them on their ships. These cases are notable in that they became the basis of the 2024 challenge to Chevron U.S.A. v. Natural Resources Defense Council (1984). Chevron U.S.A. established the judicial precedent known as the Chevron doctrine, or Chevron deference, giving federal agencies charged with issuing regulations latitude in interpreting statutes containing ambiguous or unclear provisions. On June 28, 2024, the Supreme Court overturned Chevron U.S.A. v. Natural Resources Defense Council and thereby eliminated the Chevron deference rule.