Spawning habitat ranges from areas with sand, gravel, or coarse stone substrate to those containing submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) or organic detritus. They are abundant now only in rivers where they can reach good spawning habitat. However, alewife numbers in all rivers are still well below their potential. Alewife reach a maximum length of about 40 cm (16 in), but have an average length of about 25 cm (10 in). Alewife are a sub-species of herring that can be found all across our Lake. They don’t jump like salmon, but they can swim very fast in short bursts to pass through rapids. In response to the declining population trend for alewives, the states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Virginia, and North Carolina have instituted moratoria on taking and possession. Alewife reach a maximum length of about 40 cm (16 in), but have an average length of about 25 cm (10 in). Adult alewife are caught during their spring spawning migration upstream by being scooped out of shallow, constricted areas using large dip nets. It accounts for 70–90% of the fish weight (Becker 1983). Alewife (fish), a North American herring Alewife (trade), a female brewer Alewife station, in Cambridge, Massachusetts "Alewife", a song from the Clairo album Immunity; Alewife Brook Reservation, a state park in Massachusetts; Alewife Brook Parkway, in Massachusetts; Alewife Linear Park, in Massachusetts; Alewife (multiprocessor), a computer system 4. We both are 10 to 12 inches long, and weigh 0.5 pounds. Habitat. For the community, see. The front of the body is deep and larger than other fish found in the same waters, and its common name is said to come from comparison with a corpulent female tavernkeeper ("ale-wife… Alewife are known for their invasion of the Great Lakes by using the Welland Canal to bypass Niagara Falls. An anadromous fish - it travels between freshwater and marine environments, but spawns in freshwater - Alewives are also found in rivers and streams throughout eastern North America. For COVID-19-related closures, restrictions, and updates see the WDFW COVID-19/Coronavirus response page. Removing the Embrey Dam opened up the river to more fish which is helping to restore river herring. Scientific Name: Alosa pseudoharengus (Wilson, 1811) ( ITIS) Common Name: Alewife, mulhaden, grey herring, golden shad. The goal of the Commission’s ASMFC Habitat Program is to improve fisheries habitat conservation through partnerships, policy development, and education. Indian.[5]. Adult alewives are typically 5-8 inches long, though they can reach 11-12 inches in Lake Champlain. Fish illustration by Laury Zicari, USFWS, Retired, Alosa pseudoharengus (alewife) Alosa aestivalis (blueback herring). An alewife is a herring-like fish found in the northwest Atlantic, from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to North Carolina. In southwestern Nova Scotia, alewife are referred to as kiacks (or kyacks). Herring are pelagic, schooling and feeding in midwater or at the surface, preying on zooplankton, as well as shrimp, other small crustaceans, small fish, and fish eggs. Both anadromous and landlocked forms occur. Nowhere can I find any clue to its origin. Alewife, also called sawbelly, grayback, gaspereau, or branch herring, (Pomolobus, or Alosa, pseudoharengus), important North American food fish of the herring family, Clupeidae. They stay in the ocean until they become adults at 3-5 years of age, and then return to their home river to spawn. An anadromous fish, the alewife must migrate from the ocean into freshwater rivers, streams and ponds to spawn each spring. They are generally silvery in appearance with a dark, bluish-green back and lighter belly, sometimes marked with dark horizontal stripes. [citation needed]. River herring runs used to turn some rivers “silver” each spring when they migrated by the millions upstream. An alewife herring's peritoneum is … Alewives’ lower jaws also protrude past the upper jaw in an underbite. Alewives are grey-green and blueback herrings are blue-green on our dorsal (back) sides. 2012 brought dangerously high water levels throughout most of the run, prohibiting us from safely and successfully putting the counting station in. Name of a common salt-water fish of Acadia Both anadromous and landlocked forms occur. They were so abundant that the fish were used for fertilizer, to feed hogs, as well as salted or roasted in smoke houses so they could be eaten over many weeks. Depending on water temperature, their eggs hatch in just 3-6 days. Annual Fish Count. The alewife is a saltwater species that is native to the Atlantic Coast. However, this ecosystem is unusual in being free of barriers to fish migrations between the ocean and the headwater pond. They are the preferred bait for the spring lobster fishery in Maine,[7] and are eaten by humans, usually smoked. Government agencies are working to prevent overfishing out at sea, and are removing obstacles, like dams, so we can migrate back to our home rivers to spawn new generations of alewife and blueback herring. They reached their peak abundance from the 1950s through the 1980s. The alewife, Alosa pseudoharengus, is one of 216 fishes in the family Clupeidae, a well distributed taxonomic group, mainly tropical and marine, that includes herrings, sardines, menhadens, pilchards, sprats, and shads ().The genus Alosa (river herrings), subfamily Alosinae (shads), has 24 species. Healthy fish habitat provides the essential foundation for successful fisheries management. In the Southeast US, when sold and used as bait, the fish is often referred to as "LY". Native To: Atlantic Ocean ( CABI) Date of U.S. Introduction: Known to … Common Name: Alewife. Its abundance peaked in the 1950s as the lake trout populations decreased. The alewife (top) has a slightly larger eye than the blueback herring (bottom). It is best known for its invasion of the Great Lakes by using the Welland Canal to bypass Niagara Falls. [2] As an adult it is a marine species found in the northern West Atlantic Ocean, moving into estuaries before swimming upstream to breed in freshwater habitats, but some populations live entirely in fresh water. River herring (alewife and blueback herring) are migratory fish that range along the East Coast from Florida to Maine. The rest get eaten by other fish and animals. Alewives and blueback herring spawn in freshwater but spend most of their life at sea. Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) General Information A schooling fish, primarily anadromous, inhabiting the ocean and many coastal/tidal river systems in NJ. Alewife and blueback herring use the same rivers, but alewife migrations happen earlier. Adults that survive spawning head back to the ocean to recover and prepare for their next spawning season. Blueback herring prefer spawning over rocks in fast-moving water during daylight. When rivers begin warming in spring, adult alewife and blueback herring migrate up our rivers to spawn. Barrier and Habitat Surveys. Juvenile river herring typically migrate back to the marine environment in the fall. Conserving Fish Habitat. Before alewife populations declined, native Americans and European settlers depended on the bounty brought to inland waters by spring migrations. Alewife has recently become the dominant prey item for double-crested cormorants in Lake Champlain (DeBruyne et al. Substrates with 75% silt or Fish passage on the Saco River became available in 1993 when Central Maine Power built fish passage facilities at the Cataract dam located at head-of-tide. Though marginally successful, this led to the development of a salmon/alewife fishery popular with many sport anglers. Deeper-bodied than the true herring, the alewife has a pronounced saw-edge on the underside; it grows to about 30 cm (1 foot). It is one of the "typical" North American shads, attributed to the subgenus Pomolobus of the genus Alosa. Alewives ( Alosa pseudoharengus) are small, silvery forage fish in the family Clupeidae (Figure 1). (also called alewife), first used, so far as I can find, by Denys in Medomak Alewife Fishery History/Timeline : ALEWIFE COUNT UPDATE: Check out the 2011 daily totals here. For a time, alewife, which often exhibit seasonal die-offs, washed up in windrows on the shorelines of the Great Lakes. We look alike, and are often lumped together as “river herring” but we are really two different species. What are Alewife? The Amazing Alewife. Females produce 60,000 to 350,000 eggs, but only a few young fish survive to spawn 3 to 5 years later. It is best known for its … Maine rivers have some of the healthiest and largest runs, some of which support commercial fisheries (primarily for lobster bait). They migrate from the ocean back to their home rivers in spring, where they were hatched to spawn. Here, its population surged, peaking between the 1950s and 1980s to the detriment of many native species of fish. These river herring were caught by biologists in the Connecticut River during annual fish surveys. The researchers also investigated the predation of alewife eggs and larvae by analyzing the gut contents of several predatory fish species caught below the dam. The front of the body is deep and larger than other fish found in the same waters, and its common name is said to come from comparison with a corpulent female tavernkeeper ("ale-wife").[3]. An extensive habitat restoration and education project, combined with a fish ladder with monitoring cameras, is yielding increasing numbers of Alewife back in the improving Mystic River watershed.[6]. Identification: Alewives are predominantly silver, except for a grayish green back. Marine and Coastal Fisheries: Dynamics, Management, and Ecosystem Science 4:188–200. Freshwater land-locked populations have been established in many lakes throughout the state and are often an important prey species for a variety of game fish. In the Southeast US, when sold and used as bait, the fish is often referred to as "LY". We are thin or compressed from side to side, but long from our dorsal to ventral (belly) sides, and we both have a forked tail. 1672. It is also a common predator of numerous native and non-native zooplankton taxa (Bythotrephes longimanus, Leptodiaptomus ashlandi, Leptodiaptomus minutus, Leptodiaptomus sicilis, and Leptodora kindtii). In an effort to control them biologically, Pacific salmon were introduced, only partially successfully. The Red Line (MBTA) of Boston's T ends at the Alewife station, so the name of this fish adorns the front of every northbound Red Line train. The alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) is an anadromous species of herring found in North America. We are silvery in color with a single black spot just behind our eye, and alewife have a larger eye. The brook gives its name to the Alewife Brook Parkway and the Alewife Brook Reservation. Assessing freshwater habitat of adult anadromous alewives using multiple approaches. 2012). Populations have not yet The alewife is a US National Marine Fisheries Service Species of Concern,[8] about which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, has some concerns regarding status and threats, but for which insufficient information is available to indicate a need to list the species under the US Endangered Species Act. The young fish stay in freshwater until they grow large enough to start their journey in late-summer and fall to the estuary where the salt and freshwater mix, and then slowly out to sea where they join large schools of other alewives or blueback herring migrating along the Atlantic Coast. As with most other species of sea-run or anadromous fish, alewife and blueback herring populations are much depleted from their historic levels and are the focus of habitat restoration efforts coastwide. Historically, anadromous fishes such as Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar), Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis), American Shad (Alosa sapidissima), and river herring (Alosa spp.) The Division of Wildlife’s mission is to conserve and improve fish and wildlife resources and their habitats for sustainable use and appreciation by all. The Alewife became a popular fish for baiting in the spring lobster and crab fisheries and eaten by humans, fresh, dried or salted, smoked or frozen, eaten fried. In eastern Massachusetts, Alewife Brook flows through Arlington, Cambridge, and Somerville to the Mystic River. They spend most of their life cycle in the marine environment, returning every four to five years to their natal rivers to spawn. [4] In Atlantic Canada it is known as the gaspereau, from the Acadian French word gasparot, first mentioned by Nicolas Denys. Hall, C.J., A. Jordaan, and M.G. Helping the alewife will help local lobstermen by providing them with fresh, cheap and better quality bait. An extensive habitat restoration and education project, combined with a fish ladder with monitoring cameras, is yielding increasing numbers of Alewife back in the improving Mystic River watershed. Water withdrawals due to public water use The amount of habitat available to alewives is limited in the Saco River drainage, but a moderate run is established as a result of a trap and truck effort. The young fish stay in freshwater until they grow large enough to start their journey in late-summer and fall to the estuary where the salt and freshwater mix, and then slowly out to sea where they join large schools of other alewives or blueback herring migrating along the Atlantic Coast. It was seen in Lake Ontario in the 1870s, and it spread to the rest of the Great Lakes after 1931 through the Welland Canal. Many coastal rivers along the East Coast supported huge river herring runs. Alewife populations have seen big declines throughout much of their range. We are food for many other animals, including other fishes, that people like to eat: striped bass, bluefish, weakfish, cod, haddock, halibut and tuna. Rivers and lakes with alewife and blueback herring tend to grow larger sport fish like smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, trout and landlocked salmon. (2006). Alewife grew in number unchecked because the lakes lacked a top predator in (lake trout were essentially wiped out around the same time by overfishing and the invasion of the sea lamprey). "The Identity of the Animals and Plants Mentioned by the Early Voyagers to Eastern Canada and Newfoundland", http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/concern/, United States National Agricultural Library, Fish Win: Maine About-Face Lets Alewives Return to Canada Border River, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alewife_(fish)&oldid=1000283386, Taxa named by Alexander Wilson (ornithologist), Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2019, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the New International Encyclopedia, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from Collier's Encyclopedia, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 14 January 2021, at 13:44. Their native range spans the eastern seaboard of North America from South Carolina to Newfoundland. Spawning is very stressful and makes them vulnerable to being eaten. Eggs hatch in three to six days. When one river town built a dam and blocked the fish from their spawning habitat, one early chronicler wrote that the inhabitants of the next town were outraged. Young grow rapidly through spring and summer. Alewife herring are more strongly compressed, and their bodies are less elongated. Alewife is the preferred bait for lobstermen. Christie (1972), on the other hand, argues that the alewife was not responsible for these changes. They are also commercially The item Habitat suitability index models, Alewife and blueback herring, by Garland B. Pardue ; performed for National Coastal Ecosystems Team, Division of Biological Services, Research and Development, Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the Interior represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Indiana State Library Historically, alewives have supported important commercial fisheries, primarily for human consumption, bait, or fertilizer. While, population reduction of the invasive species is the only possible method of control in the Great lakes. Our numbers became so low we were almost endangered, but we are beginning to recover in a few rivers. Eels preyed on alewife eggs but there was no evidence that larvae were consumed. Alewives run first and begin spawning when water temperatures are 51°F followed by bluebacks, which begin spawning when water temperatures reach 57°F. FISH AND WILDLIFE VALUES: Alewife Creek and Big and Little Fresh Ponds contain a variety of freshwater habitat types that are not uncommon in Suffolk County. It seems not to be Adult Size: Young of the year, alewives reach a length of 2 to 3 inches by their first fall and are usually 4 to 6 inches long at maturity.Males reach sexual maturity at age 2 and females mature at age 3. Both blueback and alewife are anadromous, living in salt and brackish marine areas as adults and returning to freshwater to spawn. Acadians named two rivers after the fish, the Gaspereau River in Nova Scotia and the Gaspereau River in New Brunswick. Or even used as pet food. As an adult it is a marine species found in the northern West Atlantic Ocean, moving into estuaries before swimming upstream to breed in freshwater habitats, but some populations live entirely in fresh water. Habitat. alewife stocking at the rate of six fish/acre had no detrimental effects on freshwater fish such as smallmouth bass, brown trout, chain pickerel and white perch in terms of size or abundance.