Alosa mediocris, Hickory shad : fisheries

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Alosa mediocris (Mitchill, 1814)

Hickory shad
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Alosa mediocris   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Alosa mediocris (Hickory shad)
Alosa mediocris
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Clupeiformes (Herrings) > Alosidae (Shads and Sardines)
Etymology: Alosa: Latin, alausa = a fish cited by Ausonius and Latin, halec = pickle, dealing with the Greek word hals = salt; it is also the old Saxon name for shad = "alli" ; 1591 (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Mitchill.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; freshwater; brackish; pelagic-neritic; anadromous (Ref. 51243). Temperate; 46°N - 25°N, 82°W - 66°W (Ref. 117467)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Western Atlantic: along the coast from Maine to the St. John's River, Florida, USA (Ref. 188). Possibly in Campobello Island, New New Brunswick, Canada (Ref. 86798).

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 32.0  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 60.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 188); common length : 34.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 188)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 15-20; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 19 - 23; Vertebrae: 53 - 55. Belly with distinct keel of scutes. Lower jaw very prominent, but not rising steeply within mouth; teeth reduced or in upper jaw absent in fishes over 23 cm standard length. A dark spot on shoulder, several obscure dark spots along flank (sometimes missing). Closely resembles A. chrysochloris which has stronger jaw teeth, no shoulder spot and the body depth less than head length (Ref. 188). Silvery, with a dark grayish green back (Ref. 7251).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

In freshwater habitat, this species occurs in open water of large rivers (Ref. 86798). Schools of adults are found in marine waters, along the coast; also estuaries, tidal rivers and tributaries during late spring and early summer (Ref. 4639). Juveniles tend to leave nursery areas during summer (Ref. 4639). Feeds on small fishes, also squid, small crabs and other crustaceans, as well as fish eggs. Spawn in tidal freshwater (Patuxent River, Chesapeake Bay in May) (Ref. 188), and return to the sea shortly after (Ref. 4639). Parasites found are nematodes, cestodes and trematodes (Ref. 37032).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Whitehead, P.J.P., 1985. FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 7. Clupeoid fishes of the world (suborder Clupeoidei). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of the herrings, sardines, pilchards, sprats, shads, anchovies and wolf-herrings. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(7/1):1-303. Rome: FAO. (Ref. 188)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 14 October 2011

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: minor commercial
FAO - Fisheries: landings; Publication: search | FishSource | Sea Around Us

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Fisheries: landings; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 8.4 - 25.5, mean 14 °C (based on 238 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00794 (0.00370 - 0.01703), b=3.04 (2.87 - 3.21), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this Genus-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  4.1   ±0.58 se; based on food items.
Generation time: 3.7 ( na - na) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 1 growth studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.3).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate vulnerability (41 of 100).
Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649):  Moderate to high vulnerability (55 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Low.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 11.5 [5.3, 62.2] mg/100g; Iron = 0.599 [0.251, 1.331] mg/100g; Protein = 19.5 [17.0, 22.3] %; Omega3 = 1.42 [0.75, 2.70] g/100g; Selenium = 12.1 [5.9, 24.0] μg/100g; VitaminA = 20.4 [5.1, 78.2] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.266 [0.167, 0.456] mg/100g (wet weight);