Clupeidae is a

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

of ray-finned fishes, comprising, for instance, the

herring Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae. Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Ocea ...

shad The Alosinae, or the shads,Alosinae
sardine "Sardine" and "pilchard" are common names for various species of small, oily forage fish in the herring family Clupeidae. The term "sardine" was first used in English during the early 15th century, a folk etymology says it comes from the ...

s, hilsa, and menhadens. The clupeoids include many of the most important

food fish Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inges ...

es in the world, and are also commonly caught for production of

fish oil Fish oil is oil derived from the tissues of oily fish. Fish oils contain the omega-3 fatty acids eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), precursors of certain eicosanoids that are known to reduce inflammation in the ...

and

fish meal Fish meal is a commercial product made from whole wild-caught fish, bycatch and fish by-products to feed farm animals, e.g., pigs, poultry, and farmed fish.R. D. Miles and F. A. Chapman.FA122: The Benefits of Fish Meal in Aquaculture DietsFisher ...

. Many members of the family have a body protected with shiny cycloid (very smooth and uniform) scales, a single

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through c ...

, and a fusiform body for quick, evasive swimming and pursuit of prey composed of small planktonic animals. Due to their small size and position in the lower

trophic level The trophic level of an organism is the position it occupies in a food web. A food chain is a succession of organisms that eat other organisms and may, in turn, be eaten themselves. The trophic level of an organism is the number of steps it i ...

of many marine food webs, the levels of

methylmercury Methylmercury (sometimes methyl mercury) is an organometallic cation with the formula . It is the simplest organomercury compound. Methylmercury is extremely toxic, and its derivatives are the major source of organic mercury for humans. It is ...

they

bioaccumulate Bioaccumulation is the gradual accumulation of substances, such as pesticides or other chemicals, in an organism. Bioaccumulation occurs when an organism absorbs a substance at a rate faster than that at which the substance is lost or eliminated ...

are very low, reducing the risk of

mercury poisoning Mercury poisoning is a type of metal poisoning due to exposure to mercury. Symptoms depend upon the type, dose, method, and duration of exposure. They may include muscle weakness, poor coordination, numbness in the hands and feet, skin rash ...

when consumed.

Description and biology

Clupeids are mostly marine

forage fish Forage fish, also called prey fish or bait fish, are small pelagic fish which are preyed on by larger predators for food. Predators include other larger fish, seabirds and marine mammals. Typical ocean forage fish feed near the base of the ...

, although a few species are found in fresh water. No species has scales on the head, and some are entirely scaleless. The lateral line is short or absent, and the teeth are unusually small where they are present at all. Clupeids typically feed on

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in water (or air) that are unable to propel themselves against a current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankters. In the ocean, they provide a cr ...

, and range from 2 to 75 cm (0.8 to 30 in.) in length. The family arguably also contains the "

Sundasalangidae ''Sundasalanx'', the Sundaland noodlefishes, is the only genus in the family Sundasalangidae, which belongs to the same order as the herrings and their relatives. This family of extremely small fishes is restricted to freshwater environments of ...

", a

paedomorphic Neoteny (), also called juvenilization,Montagu, A. (1989). Growing Young. Bergin & Garvey: CT. is the delaying or slowing of the physiological, or somatic, development of an organism, typically an animal. Neoteny is found in modern humans compare ...

taxon first thought to be a distinct salmoniform family, but then discovered to be deeply nested in the Clupeidae. In the fossil record, clupeids date back to the early

Paleogene The Paleogene ( ; also spelled Palaeogene or Palæogene; informally Lower Tertiary or Early Tertiary) is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of ...

. Clupeids spawn huge numbers of eggs (up to 200,000 in some species) near the surface of the water. After hatching, the larvae live among the plankton until they develop a

swim bladder The swim bladder, gas bladder, fish maw, or air bladder is an internal gas-filled organ that contributes to the ability of many bony fish (but not cartilaginous fish) to control their buoyancy, and thus to stay at their current water depth w ...

and transform into adults. These eggs and fry are not protected or tended to by parents. The adults typically live in large

shoal In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. It ...

s, seeking protection from

piscivorous A piscivore () is a carnivorous animal that eats primarily fish. The name ''piscivore'' is derived . Piscivore is equivalent to the Greek-derived word ichthyophage, both of which mean "fish eater". Fish were the diet of early tetrapod evoluti ...

predators such as

birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweig ...

sharks Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachi ...

and other predatory fish, toothed whales, marine mammals, and jellyfish. They also form bait balls. Commercially important species of the Clupeidae include the Atlantic menhaden (''Brevoortia tyrannus''), the Atlantic and Baltic herrings (''Clupea harengus''), the Pacific herring (''C. pallasii''), and the

European pilchard The European pilchard (''Sardina pilchardus'') is a species of ray-finned fish in the monotypic genus ''Sardina''. The young of the species are among the many fish that are sometimes called sardines. This common species is found in the northeast ...

or sardine (''Sardina pilchardus''). The family currently comprises 54

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial ...

and around 200 species.

Taxonomy

Taxonomy based on the works of Van der Laan 2017 and Nelson, Grande & Wilson 2016. * †''

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 ...

'' * ''

Platanichthys ''Platanichthys platana'', the Rio Plata sprat, is a very small species of fish belonging to the herring family, Clupeidae. It is endemic to South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in ...

'' * ?Subfamily Spratelloidinae Jordan 1925 sensu Lavoue et al. 2014 ** ''

Jenkinsia ''Jenkinsia'' is a genus of round herring in the family Clupeidae. They are found in the central western Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Kar ...

'' ** '' Spratelloides'' * Subfamily Clupeinae Cuvier 1816 sensu Lavoue et al. 2013 ** '' Clupea'' ** ''

Ethmidium Menhaden, also known as mossbunker and bunker and "the most important fish in the sea", are forage fish of the genera ''Brevoortia'' and ''Ethmidium'', two genera of marine fish in the family Clupeidae. ''Menhaden'' is a blend of ''poghaden' ...

'' ** '' Hyperlophus'' ** ''

Potamalosa ''Potamalosa richmondia'', the Australian freshwater herring, is a fish that is endemic to Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia ( ...

'' ** ''

Ramnogaster ''Ramnogaster'' is a small genus of sprats found only in South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at ...

'' ** '' Sprattus'' * Subfamily Ehiravinae (Deraniyagala 1929) ** ''

Clupeichthys ''Clupeichthys'' is a genus of sprats, herring-like fishes, that occur in rivers in Southeast Asia. There are currently four recognized species in the genus. Species * '' Clupeichthys aesarnensis'' Wongratana, 1983 (Thai river sprat) * '' Cl ...

'' ** '' Clupeoides'' ** '' Clupeonella'' ** '' Corica'' ** '' Dayella'' ** ''

Ehirava ''Ehirava fluviatilis'', or the Malabar sprat, is a species of fish endemic to the rivers and coastal lagoons and estuaries of southern India and Sri Lanka. It is the only recognized species in its genus. It grows to standard length Fish m ...

'' ** ''

Gilchristella ''Gilchristella aestuaria'', the Gilchrist's round herring or estuarine round-herring, is a member of the herring family Clupeidae that occurs off the coasts of Southern Africa. It is the only species in its genus, which was named for John Dow ...

'' ** ''

Minyclupeoides ''Minyclupeoides dentibranchialus'' is an extremely small fish () found only in the Mekong Basin in Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in t ...

'' ** ''

Sauvagella ''Sauvagella'' is a genus of small fresh and brackish water fish in the family Clupeidae. There are currently two species, both of which are endemic to Madagascar.Stiassny, M.L.J. (2002). ''Revision of Sauvagella Bertin (Clupeidae: Pellonu ...

'' ** ''

Spratellomorpha The two-finned round herring (''Spratellomorpha bianalis'') is a species of fish in the family Clupeidae. It is endemic to Madagascar. Its natural habitat is rivers. It is the only species in its genus. References two-finned round h ...

'' ** ''

Sundasalanx ''Sundasalanx'', the Sundaland noodlefishes, is the only genus in the family Sundasalangidae, which belongs to the same order as the herrings and their relatives. This family of extremely small fishes is restricted to freshwater environments of ...

'' * Subfamily Alosinae Svetovidov 1952 ** ''

Alosa ''Alosa'' is a genus of fish, the river herrings, in the family (biology), family Clupeidae. 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 A ...

'' ** ''Brevoortia'' ** ''European pilchard">Sardina Sardina may refer to: * Alexander-Martin Sardina, German-Italian scientist and former member of parliament * ''Sardina pilchardus'', the European pilchard in the monotypic genus ''Sardina'' * ''Case Sardina'', a district of the city of Calcinaia i ...