| Family: |
Alosidae (Shads and Sardines) |
| Max. size: |
50 cm SL (male/unsexed); max.weight: 1,700.0 g; max. reported age: 4 years |
| Environment: |
pelagic-neritic; freshwater; brackish; marine, anadromous |
| Distribution: |
Western Central Atlantic: Gulf of Mexico (from Corpus Christi in Texas eastward to Pensacola in Florida; also in rivers, e.g. Mississippi and Ohio Rivers to Minnesota, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania). |
| Diagnosis: |
Dorsal spines (total): 0-0; Anal spines: 0-0. Belly with a distinct keel of scutes. Lower jaw not rising steeply within mouth; teeth prominent at front of lower jaw. Lower gill rakers slender. Back bluish green, abruptly changing to silver on flank; no dark spot at shoulder. Closely resembles A. mediocris of Atlantic coasts, which has no upper and weak lower jaw teeth, a dark shoulder spot and the body deeper than head length (Ref. 188). |
| Biology: |
Generally present in coastal marine water (Ref. 37039). Enter brackish- and freshwaters, but perhaps not always or not consistently anadromous (Ref. 188), although strongly migratory within rivers (Ref. 10294) , mostly in fast-flowing water where they are renowned for leaping. Feed on small fishes, the juveniles on insects. Spawning times and places not certain. Adults serve as hosts to the larvae (glochidia) of the economically valuable pearly mussel (Fusconaia ebena) of the Mississippi basin (Ref. 188). |
| IUCN Red List Status: |
Least Concern (LC); Date assessed: 13 March 2018 Ref. (130435)
|
| Threat to humans: |
harmless |
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