—A fish belonging to a genus very close to that to which the herring belongs is known as alewife. The name of the genus is Pomolobus. It is commonly known as a herring. For instance, the fresh-water skipjack or blue herring,—the tailor herring or hickory shad,—and the real alewife or branch herring are all common species of this genus. One specimen of this genus is the fresh-water skipjack or blue herring (Pomolobus chrysochloris) found in the larger streams in the Mississippi valley and also in Lake Erie and Lake Michigan. It is strictly a fresh-water fish, but has also been found in salt water on the Gulf coast. The tailor herring is found along the Atlantic coast from Cape Cod to Florida. In the Potomac river it is known as tailor shad or “fresh-water tailor,” and is highly esteemed as a food fish in Washington and vicinity. Their value is found rather in their coming earlier than the shad than in their true value, for as soon as the shad come in great abundance there is no longer any market for the alewife.
Composition of Alewife.—
| Fresh. | Dry. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Water, | 74.41 | percent | ||
| Protein, | 19.17 | „ | 75.87 | percent |
| Fat, | 4.92 | „ | 19.08 | „ |
| Ash, | 1.47 | „ | 5.78 | „ |
This fish, it is seen, has very much less oil in it than the true herring,—in fact, only a little more than one-half as much. It, however, has a correspondingly larger percentage of protein.
The tailor herring and hickory shad are distributed along the coast from Cape Cod to Florida. The branch herring (Pomolobus pseudoharengus) is found along the Atlantic coast as far south as Charleston, entering fresh-water streams to spawn, usually two or three weeks ahead of the shad. It occurs also in Lake Ontario and in several of the small lakes in northern New York in which it is land-locked. The summer herring (Pomolobus æstivalis) also occurs along the Atlantic coast.
Anchovy.
—The anchovy is a small fish which is eaten more as a relish in the pickled state than in the fresh state, and is highly prized by many connoisseurs. Anchovies of various species are found on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts,—on the Atlantic coast from Cape Cod to Brazil and on the western coast from southern California southward. These fish reach a length of from 2 to 7 inches. The very small ones are sometimes known as “whitebait.” Those that are pickled and used for food are usually from 3 to 6 inches in length.
Composition of Preserved Anchovies.—
| Water, | 57.8 | percent |
| Protein, | 22.3 | „ |
| Fat, | 2.2 | „ |
| Ash (principally salt), | 23.7 | „ |