clupeiform
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What are clupeiform fish?
Clupeiforms are bony fishes belonging to the order Clupeiformes and the superorder Clupeomorpha. This order includes over 400 species, with about 20 species that account for over one-third of the global fish catch, making them the most exploited fish group.
Most clupeiforms are small, slender, and streamlined marine fishes, typically under 30 cm (12 inches) in length, though some can exceed 50 cm (20 inches). An exception is the wolf herring (Chirocentrus dorab), which can reach 3.6 meters (12 feet).
The dominant and economically important members of this order include herrings, sardines, pilchards, menhadens, sprats, anchovies, and anchovetas. Most clupeiforms live in abundant schools in offshore open waters, staying close to shore and in bays. Their distribution is mainly limited by temperature and salinity, with about 70% of species found in tropical waters.
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What are some common examples of clupeiform fish?
Clupeiforms are mostly small, streamlined marine fish, typically under 30 cm (12 inches) in length. They are abundant, travel in large schools, and serve as food for larger predators.
Examples of clupeiform fish include:
* Herring Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus harengus) and Pacific herring (C. harengus pallasii)
* Sprat Also known as bristling
* Skipjack herring (Alosa chrysochloris)
* Alewife (A., or Pomolobus, pseudoharengus)
* Wolf herring (Chirocentrus dorab) is an exception, reaching 3.6 meters (12 feet)
* Round herrings
* Longfin herrings
* Pellonas
* Shads
* Gizzard shads3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
Where do clupeiform fish usually live?
Clupeiform fish, such as herrings and sardines, typically inhabit offshore open waters, staying close to the coast and in bays rather than the truly open ocean. About 70 percent of clupeiform species are found in tropical waters, with fewer in subtropical regions, and even fewer in the Southern Hemisphere.
Most clupeiforms are marine, but some live in fresh water or migrate between fresh and salt water to breed. They lay their eggs near shore, in shallow waters, riverbeds, or lakes, depending on the species. Some species undertake long migrations for spawning and feeding, while others remain in a limited area.
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What do clupeiform fish eat and how do they feed?
Clupeiforms, such as herrings and sardines, are mostly small marine fishes, generally under 30 cm (12 inches) in length. The abundant and economically important species typically feed on plankton—pelagic protozoans (diatoms and flagellates), copepods, metazoan larvae, euphausiids, and amphipods.
Many clupeiforms are filter feeders, straining food particles or small organisms randomly from the water. Some species feed year-round if food is available, but most change their feeding habits seasonally. For example, herring and most Alosa and Clupeonella species do not feed during the spawning season, feeding most intensively in the summer after spawning and less so in spring before spawning.
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Why are clupeiform fish important in ocean food webs?
Clupeiform fishes, including herrings, sardines, and anchovies, are vital to ocean food webs because they are abundant plankton feeders. They consume plankton and are prey for larger species. This makes them a critical link in the transfer of energy from primary producers to higher trophic levels, supporting many marine predators. Clupeiforms themselves form massive schools, with single schools containing millions of individuals. Their abundance and schooling behavior also make them a major food source for marine predators.
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How are clupeiform fish used by humans and what challenges do they face today?
Clupeiforms are heavily exploited fishes, with about 20 species providing over a third of the world's fish catch. They are a primary source of fish meal and fish oil, which are used in animal feed and various industrial products.
However, clupeiform populations face challenges. For example, the Atlantic herring experienced significant decline due to overfishing in the 1970s. While populations have recovered to some extent following the establishment of catch limits, stocks remain largely depleted.
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clupeiform, (order Clupeiformes), any member of the superorder Clupeomorpha, a group of bony fishes with one living order, the Clupeiformes, that contains some of the world’s most numerous and economically important fishes. The order includes more than 400 species, about 20 of which provide more than one-third of the world fish catch. Clupeiforms are by far the most heavily exploited of all fish groups.
General features
Most clupeiforms are small marine fishes, under 30 cm (12 inches) in length, slender, streamlined, and rather nonspecialized in body form; a few species exceed 50 cm (about 20 inches) in length. The wolf herring, Chirocentrus dorab, is exceptional in size among the clupeiforms; this species reaches 3.6 metres (12 feet).
Authorities disagree on many aspects of the classification of the order Clupeiformes. In 1966 a sweeping revision of the bony fishes by British ichthyologist P.H. Greenwood and American ichthyologists D.E. Rosen, Stanley H. Weitzman, and George S. Myers restricted the order to the families Clupeidae (herrings, sardines, and allies), Engraulidae (anchovies), Chirocentridae (wolf herrings), and Denticipitidae (a family containing the denticle herrings [Denticeps clupeoides]). The last two families are of purely scientific interest; the dominant members of the order, in abundance and therefore in economic importance, are the herrings, sardines, pilchards, menhadens, sprats, anchovies, and anchovetas. Modern classifications also include the families Sundasalangidae (Sundaland noodlefishes) and Pristigasteridae (ilishas, longfin herrings, and pellonas). Other fish groups formerly included in the Clupeiformes are the tarpons and bonefishes, salmons, trouts, pikes, bony tongues, and mormyrs.
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Most clupeiforms inhabit more or less offshore open waters in abundant schools. Although usually considered pelagic (inhabiting the open ocean), in relation to distribution and life history, they are closer to the neritic (coastal) fauna because they do not usually occur in the really open parts of the oceans; rather, they stay close to shore and in bays. Even the truly pelagic and migratory species spawn close to shore. The geographical distribution of the order is limited mainly by temperature and salinity. About 70 percent of the species occurs in tropical waters, only few visiting subtropical regions. More than 20 species are limited to purely boreal and subarctic distribution. Remarkably few species are found in the Southern Hemisphere.
With respect to salinity, clupeiform fishes represent a fairly mixed group: most of them, approximately half of the living species, are wholly marine. The remaining species are either anadromous (living in the sea but entering fresh water to breed) or wholly freshwater fishes. The order includes some marine genera with large numbers of species, such as Sardinella and Harengula, which together comprise more than 60 genera and nearly 220 species. There are fewer anadromous clupeids, about 10 genera with 40 species, distributed mostly in temperate regions but some in subtropical areas. Freshwater clupeiform fishes include 31 species in 16 genera, most of them limited to the tropics. Nine genera with 15 species inhabit the rivers and lakes of Central and West Africa, and six species are distributed in freshwater environments of the Indo-Malayan Archipelago and Australia. In addition, two genera with four species occur in fresh waters of India, and some species of the genera Sigualosa and Dorosoma occur in Central America. Furthermore, a few single species of otherwise marine genera are found in the Amazon River (Rhinosardinia amazonica), in the rivers of Borneo (Ilisha macrogaster), and in freshwater lakes of the Philippines (Harengula tawilis). A few other species also occasionally occur in fresh water.
Of the families and subfamilies of the Clupeiformes, the subfamilies Dussumieriinae (round herrings) and Clupeinae (typical herrings) and the family Chirocentridae are purely marine. Other groups, such as the family Denticipitidae and subfamily Pellonulinae, are limited to fresh water. The subfamilies Alosinae (shads and alewives) and Dorosomatinae (gizzard shads), along with some members of the family Pristigasteridae, inhabit anadromous, freshwater, brackish, or marine environments. Lastly, members of the family Engraulidae are brackish or marine.