Thread Herring

 | By xfernal on 10/21/2023 7:51:02 PM | Views (390)

The Atlantic thread herring (Opisthonema oglinum) is a herring-like fish in the family Clupeidae. It has a dark blue-gray back, silvery sides, a white belly, and a small head. Upper sides blue-green, sometimes with dark horizontal lines, lower sides and abdomen silvery; dark spot on side posterior to gill cover, about equal in size to diameter of pupil (followed in some specimens by one or more irregular lines of smaller spots); margin of dorsal fin and its filament dusky; caudal fin with black tips. It grows up to 38 cm in length.

Thread Herring can be found in shallow waters and harbors along the coasts of the Western Atlantic (Gulf of Maine, Bermuda, throughout Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and West Indies, southward to Santa Caterina, Brazil). Also off coasts of Ecuador and Peru. Pelagic, coastal, migratory, often forming compact surface schools (but solitary individuals reported); schools from southeastern United States migrate south during autumn and winter when temperatures fall

Adults feed on small fishes, crabs, and shrimps; juveniles on planktonic organisms. Predominately taken in artisanal and industrial fisheries. Caught throughout the area, targeted off Costa Rica, and Venezuela, the continental margins of the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, and near the islands of Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Trinidad, also off coasts of Ecuador and Peru.

Catch Information

Species:
Thread Herring