Clupeiformes is the order of

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

that includes the

herring Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...

family,

Clupeidae Clupeidae is a family of clupeiform ray-finned fishes, comprising, for instance, the herrings and sprats. Many members of the family have a body protected with shiny cycloid (very smooth and uniform) scales, a single dorsal fin, and a fusiform ...

, and the

anchovy An anchovy is a small, common forage fish of the Family (biology), family Engraulidae. Most species are found in marine waters, but several will enter brackish water, and some in South America are restricted to fresh water. More than 140 speci ...

family,

Engraulidae An anchovy is a small, common forage fish of the family Engraulidae. Most species are found in marine waters, but several will enter brackish water, and some in South America are restricted to fresh water. More than 140 species are placed in 1 ...

and

sardines Sardine and pilchard are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring suborder Clupeoidei. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century; a somewhat dubious etymology says it come ...

. The group includes many of the most important

forage Forage is a plant material (mainly plant leaves and stems) eaten by grazing livestock. Historically, the term ''forage'' has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used m ...

and

food fish Many species of fish are caught by humans and consumed as food in virtually all regions around the world. Their meat has been an important dietary source of protein and other nutrients in the human diet. The English language does not have a s ...

. Clupeiformes are

physostome Physostomes are fishes that have a pneumatic duct connecting the gas bladder to the alimentary canal. This allows the gas bladder to be filled or emptied via the mouth. This not only allows the fish to fill their bladder by gulping air, but al ...

s, which means that their

gas bladder The swim bladder, gas bladder, fish maw, or air bladder is an internal gas-filled organ in bony fish that functions to modulate buoyancy, and thus allowing the fish to stay at desired water depth without having to maintain lift via swimming, ...

has a

pneumatic duct The swim bladder, gas bladder, fish maw, or air bladder is an internal gas-filled organ in bony fish that functions to modulate buoyancy, and thus allowing the fish to stay at desired water depth without having to maintain lift via swimming, wh ...

connecting it to the gut. They typically lack a

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelia ...

, but still have the eyes,

fins A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foil (fluid mechanics), foils that produce lift (force), lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while travelin ...

and

scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number ...

that are common to most fish, though not all fish have these attributes. They are generally silvery fish with streamlined, spindle-shaped bodies, and they often

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

. Most species eat

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms that drift in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) but are unable to actively propel themselves against ocean current, currents (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are ca ...

which they filter from the water with their

gill raker Gill rakers in fish are bony or cartilaginous processes that project from the branchial arch (gill arch) and are involved with suspension feeding tiny prey. They are not to be confused with the gill filaments that compose the fleshy part of th ...

s. The former order of Isospondyli was subsumed mostly by Clupeiformes, but some isospondylous fishes (isospondyls) were assigned to

Osteoglossiformes Osteoglossiformes , meaning "bony tongues" in Ancient Greek, is a relatively primitive order of ray-finned fish that contains two sub-orders, the Osteoglossoidei and the Notopteroidei. All of at least 245 living species inhabit freshwater. They ...

Salmoniformes Salmoniformes (, lit. "salmon-shaped") is an Order (biology), order of Actinopterygii, ray-finned fishes native to the temperate and subarctic Northern Hemisphere. It contains two suborders: Salmonoidei (containing only the Salmonidae) and Esocoi ...

Cetomimiformes The Cetomimoidea or whalefishes are a superfamily of small, deep-sea ray-finned fish. Formerly treated as either their own order (Cetomimiformes) due to their unusual anatomy, more recent studies incorporating genetic data confirm them to be de ...

, etc. Their

sister group In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

were the extinct

Ellimmichthyiformes The Ellimmichthyiformes, also known as double-armored herrings, are an Extinction, extinct Order (biology), order of Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish known from the Early Cretaceous to the Oligocene. They were the sister group to the extant true h ...

, which were dominant throughout much of the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

and into the

Paleogene The Paleogene Period ( ; also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene) is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the Neogene Period Ma. It is the fir ...

, and often coexisted with clupeiforms at many known localities. Both groups closely resembled each other morphologically, although the ellimmichthyiformes evolved some highly divergent body plans later in the Cretaceous. Several fossil clupeiforms are known from the

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous (geochronology, geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphy, chronostratigraphic name) is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 143.1 ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

that appear to be more closely allied with Clupeioidei over the

Denticipitidae The denticle herring (''Denticeps clupeoides'') is a small, up to long, species of Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish found only in the rivers of Benin, Nigeria, and western Cameroon. It is related to the herrings, but notable for its large anal fi ...

. This suggests a very deep divergence within the

crown group In phylogenetics, the crown group or crown assemblage is a collection of species composed of the living representatives of the collection, the most recent common ancestor of the collection, and all descendants of the most recent common ancestor ...

Clupeiformes that must have occurred during the Early Cretaceous or before.

Families

The order includes about 405 species in ten families: * Order Clupeiformes ** Genus †'' Histiothrissa'' Woodward, 1901 ** Genus ?†'' Jhingrania'' Misra & Saxena, 1959 (possibly a clupavid) ** Genus †'' Santanaclupea'' Maisey, 1993 ** Genus †''

Spratticeps ''Spratticeps'' is an extinct genus of clupeiform fish which existed in what is now England during the lower Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the ...

Patterson Patterson may refer to: People * Patterson (surname) * Patterson family Places ;Australia * Patterson railway station ;Canada * Pattersons Corners, Ontario * Patterson Township, Ontario * Patterson, Calgary a neighbourhood in Calgary, Alberta. ...

, 1970 ** Suborder Denticipitoidei Grande, 1982 *** Family

Clausen, 1959 (denticle herring) ** Suborder

Clupeoidei Clupeoidei is a suborder of marine and freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the order Clupeiformes, an order which includes the herrings, anchovies and shads. Classification The Clupeoidei has the following families classified within it: * ...

Bleeker Bleeker is a Dutch occupational surname. Bleeker is an old spelling of ''(linnen)bleker'' ("linen bleacher").Beksinskiella'' Granica, Bieńowska-Wasiluki & Paldyna, 2004 *** Genus †'' Nolfia'' De Figueiredo, 2009 *** Genus †'' Pseudoellima'' De Figueiredo, 2009 *** Family † Cynoclupeidae Malabarba & Di Dario, 2017 *** Family

Spratelloididae Spratelloididae is a small family of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the suborder Clupeoidei of the order Clupeiformes, which also includes the anchovies and herrings. The taxa in this family were previously classified within the family ...

D. S. Jordan David Starr Jordan (January 19, 1851 – September 19, 1931) was the founding president of Stanford University, serving from 1891 to 1913. He was an ichthyologist during his research career. Prior to serving as president of Stanford Universi ...

1925 (dwarf herrings or small round herrings) *** Family

Gill A gill () is a respiration organ, respiratory organ that many aquatic ecosystem, aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow r ...

, 1861 (anchovies) *** Family

Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, baron Cuvier (23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier (; ), was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuv ...

, 1816 (herrings and sprats) *** Family

Chirocentridae Wolf herrings are a family (Chirocentridae) of two marine species of ray-finned fish related to herrings. Both species have elongated bodies and jaws with long sharp teeth that aid their ravenous appetites, primarily for other fish. They can gr ...

Bleeker, 1849 (wolf herrings) *** Family

Dussumieriidae Dussumieriidae is a family of clupeiform fishes popularly called the "round herrings". It is now recognized by FishBase as a family in its own right; it had been considered to be a subfamily of Clupeidae. It contains two extant genera, and some ...

Gill, 1861 (round herrings or rainbow sardines) *** Family

Pristigasteridae Pristigasteridae is a family of ray-finned fish related to the herrings, including the genera '' Ilisha'', '' Pellona'', and '' Pristigaster''. One common name for the taxon is longfin herring. The taxonomic classification of this family is in do ...

Bleeker, 1872 (longfin herrings) *** Family

Ehiravidae Ehiravidae is a family of clupeiform fishes. It is now recognized by FishBase as a family in its own right; it had been considered to be a subfamily of Clupeidae. It contains eleven extant Extant or Least-concern species, least concern is th ...

Deraniyagala Deraniyagala is a town in the Kegalle district in the Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka. Deraniyaga city area consists major government administrative offices, textile industries and transportation hub and the district hospital which has seven ...

, 1929 (river sprats) *** Family

Alosidae The Alosidae, or the shads, are a family of clupeiform fishes. The family currently comprises four genera worldwide, and about 32 species. The shads are pelagic (open water) schooling fish, of which many are anadromous or even landlocked. Seve ...

Svetovidov, 1952 (shads and sardines) *** Family

Dorosomatidae Dorosomatidae is a family of clupeiform fishes. It is now recognized by FishBase as a family in its own right; it had been considered to be a subfamily of Clupeidae. It contains 31 extant Extant or Least-concern species, least concern is ...

Gill, 1861 (thread herrings or gizzard shads and sardinellas)

Timeline of genera

ImageSize = width:1000px height:auto barincrement:15px PlotArea = left:10px bottom:50px top:10px right:10px Period = from:-199.6 till:15 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:10 start:-199.6 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:-199.6 TimeAxis = orientation:hor AlignBars = justify Colors = #legends id:CAR value:claret id:ANK value:rgb(0.4,0.3,0.196) id:HER value:teal id:HAD value:green id:OMN value:blue id:black value:black id:white value:white id:mesozoic value:rgb(0.54,0.54,0.258) id:triassic value:rgb(0.51,0.17,0.57) id:earlytriassic value:rgb(0.6,0.22,0.61) id:middletriassic value:rgb(0.73,0.53,0.71) id:latetriassic value:rgb(0.78,0.65,0.8) id:jurassic value:rgb(0.2,0.7,0.79) id:earlyjurassic value:rgb(0,0.69,0.89) id:middlejurassic value:rgb(0.52,0.81,0.91) id:latejurassic value:rgb(0.74,0.89,0.97) id:cretaceous value:rgb(0.5,0.78,0.31) id:earlycretaceous value:rgb(0.63,0.78,0.65) id:latecretaceous value:rgb(0.74,0.82,0.37) id:cenozoic value:rgb(0.54,0.54,0.258) id:paleogene value:rgb(0.99,0.6,0.32) id:paleocene value:rgb(0.99,0.65,0.37) id:eocene value:rgb(0.99,0.71,0.42) id:oligocene value:rgb(0.99,0.75,0.48) id:neogene value:rgb(0.999999,0.9,0.1) id:miocene value:rgb(0.999999,0.999999,0) id:pliocene value:rgb(0.97,0.98,0.68) id:quaternary value:rgb(0.98,0.98,0.5) id:pleistocene value:rgb(0.999999,0.95,0.68) id:holocene value:rgb(0.999,0.95,0.88) BarData= bar:eratop bar:space bar:periodtop bar:space bar:NAM1 bar:NAM2 bar:NAM3 bar:NAM4 bar:NAM5 bar:NAM6 bar:NAM7 bar:NAM8 bar:NAM9 bar:NAM10 bar:NAM11 bar:NAM12 bar:NAM13 bar:NAM14 bar:NAM15 bar:NAM16 bar:NAM17 bar:NAM18 bar:NAM19 bar:NAM20 bar:NAM21 bar:NAM22 bar:NAM23 bar:NAM24 bar:NAM25 bar:NAM26 bar:NAM27 bar:NAM28 bar:NAM29 bar:NAM30 bar:NAM31 bar:space bar:period bar:space bar:era PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:M mark:(line,black) width:25 shift:(7,-4) bar:periodtop from: -199.6 till: -175.6 color:earlyjurassic text:

Early Early may refer to: Places in the United States * Early, Iowa, a city * Early, Texas, a city * Early Branch, a stream in Missouri * Early County, Georgia * Fort Early, Georgia, an early 19th century fort Music * Early B, stage name of Jamaican d ...

from: -175.6 till: -161.2 color:middlejurassic text:

Middle Middle or The Middle may refer to: * Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits. Places * Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man * Middle Bay (disambiguation) * Middle Brook (disambiguation) * Middle Creek ...

from: -161.2 till: -145.5 color:latejurassic text:

Late Late or LATE may refer to: Everyday usage * Tardy, or late, not being on time * Late (or the late) may refer to a person who is dead Music * ''Late'' (The 77s album), 2000 * Late (Alvin Batiste album), 1993 * Late!, a pseudonym used by Dave Groh ...

from: -145.5 till: -99.6 color:earlycretaceous text:

from: -99.6 till: -65.5 color:latecretaceous text:

from: -65.5 till: -55.8 color:paleocene text: Paleo. from: -55.8 till: -33.9 color:eocene text: Eo. from: -33.9 till: -23.03 color:oligocene text: Oligo. from: -23.03 till: -5.332 color:miocene text: Mio. from: -5.332 till: -2.588 color:pliocene text: Pl. from: -2.588 till: -0.0117 color:pleistocene text: Pl. from: -0.0117 till: 0 color:holocene text: H. bar:eratop from: -199.6 till: -145.5 color:jurassic text:

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 143.1 Mya. ...

from: -145.5 till: -65.5 color:cretaceous text:

from: -65.5 till: -23.03 color:paleogene text:

from: -23.03 till: -2.588 color:neogene text:

Neogene The Neogene ( ,) is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period million years ago. It is the second period of th ...

from: -2.588 till: 0 color:quaternary text: Q. PlotData= align:left fontsize:M mark:(line,white) width:5 anchor:till align:left color:latejurassic bar:NAM1 from:-161.2 till:-149.03 text: Pachythrissops color:latejurassic bar:NAM2 from:-150.8 till:-149.03 text: Daitingichthys color:latecretaceous bar:NAM3 from:-99.6 till:-93.5 text: Ornategulum color:latecretaceous bar:NAM4 from:-99.6 till:-93.5 text: Scombroclupea color:latecretaceous bar:NAM5 from:-94.3 till:-85.8 text: Leufuichthys color:latecretaceous bar:NAM6 from:-85.8 till:-83.5 text: Histiothrissa color:latecretaceous bar:NAM7 from:-70.6 till:-65.5 text:

Gasteroclupea ''Gasteroclupea'' is a genus of prehistoric ellimmichthyiform fish that is distantly related to modern anchovies and herrings. It contains one species, ''G. branisai''. It inhabited freshwater or estuarine habitats across South America during th ...

color:eocene bar:NAM6 from:-55.8 till:-48.6 text:

Knightia ''Knightia'' is an extinct genus of clupeid bony fish that lived in the freshwater lakes and rivers of North America and Asia during the Eocene epoch. The genus was erected by David Starr Jordan in 1907, in honor of the late University of Wyom ...

color:eocene bar:NAM8 from:-55.8 till:-33.9 text: Hacquetia color:eocene bar:NAM9 from:-55.8 till:0 text:

Clupea ''Clupea'' is genus of planktivorous bony fish belonging to the family Clupeidae, commonly known as herrings. They are found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Two main ...

color:eocene bar:NAM10 from:-55.8 till:0 text:

Harengula ''Harengula'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Dorosomatidae, the gizzard shads and sarinellas/ The fishes in this genus occur mostly in the western Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, with one species i ...

color:eocene bar:NAM11 from:-55.8 till:0 text: Chirocentrus color:eocene bar:NAM12 from:-48.6 till:0 text: Etrumeus color:eocene bar:NAM13 from:-48.6 till:0 text:

Sardinella ''Sardinella'' is a genus of fish in the family Dorosomatidae found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. They are abundant in warmer waters of the tropical and subtropical oceans. Adults are generally coastal, schooling, marine fish but ...

color:eocene bar:NAM14 from:-37.2 till:0 text:

Alosa ''Alosa'' is a genus of fish, the river herrings, in the family Alosidae. Along with other genera in the subfamily Alosinae, they are generally known as shads. tp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/009/ac482e/ac482e27.pdf Subfamily AlosinaeFAO Fisherie ...

color:oligocene bar:NAM15 from:-33.9 till:0 text: Opisthonema color:oligocene bar:NAM16 from:-33.9 till:0 text: Pomolobus color:oligocene bar:NAM17 from:-28.4 till:0 text: Sardina color:miocene bar:NAM18 from:-23.03 till:0 text:

Stolephorus ''Stolephorus'' is a genus of ray-finned fish in the family Engraulidae. They are found in Atlantic and Indo-pacific Species These are the currently recognized species in this genus: * '' Stolephorus acinaces'' Hata & Lavoué & Motomura, 2020 ...

color:miocene bar:NAM19 from:-23.03 till:0 text:

Anchoa ''Anchoa'' is a genus of ray-finned fishes in the family Engraulidae. It currently consists of 35 species. Species There are currently 35 recognized species in this genus: * ''Anchoa analis'' (Robert Rush Miller, R. R. Miller, 1945) (Longfin Pa ...

color:miocene bar:NAM20 from:-23.03 till:0 text: Ilisha color:miocene bar:NAM21 from:-23.03 till:0 text:

Sardinops ''Sardinops'' is a monotypic genus of sardines of the family Alosidae. The only member of the genus is ''Sardinops sagax''. It is found in the Indo-Pacific and East Pacific oceans. Its length is up to . It has numerous common or vernacular names, ...

color:miocene bar:NAM22 from:-15.97 till:0 text: Pseudohilsa color:miocene bar:NAM23 from:-11.608 till:-5.332 text: Alisea color:miocene bar:NAM24 from:-11.608 till:-5.332 text:

Etringus ''Etringus'' is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine herring that lived during the Upper Miocene subepoch. It contains a single species, ''E. scintillans'', known from the Modelo and Puente Formations of the Los Angeles Basin The Los Angel ...

color:miocene bar:NAM25 from:-11.608 till:-5.332 text: Ganoessus color:miocene bar:NAM26 from:-11.608 till:-5.332 text: Ganolytes color:miocene bar:NAM27 from:-11.608 till:-5.332 text: Quisque color:miocene bar:NAM28 from:-11.608 till:-5.332 text:

Xyne ''Xyne'' is an extinct genus of prehistoric herring that lived during the Upper Miocene subepoch. Fossils are known from the Dicalite Quarry and Diatom Hill in California. See also * Prehistoric fish * List of prehistoric bony fish This list ...

color:miocene bar:NAM29 from:-11.608 till:0 text:

Engraulis ''Engraulis'' is a genus of anchovies. It currently contains nine species. They are found in Pacific, Atlantic and Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin ...

color:miocene bar:NAM30 from:-11.608 till:0 text: Sarmatella color:pliocene bar:NAM31 from:-5.332 till:-2.588 text: Austroclupea PlotData= align:center textcolor:black fontsize:M mark:(line,black) width:25 bar:period from: -199.6 till: -175.6 color:earlyjurassic text: