The alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) is an anadromous species of herring found in North America. It is one of the "typical" North American shads, attributed to the subgenusPomolobus of the genus Alosa.[3] As an adult it is a marine species found in the northern West Atlantic Ocean, moving into estuaries before swimming upstream to breed in freshwater habitats, but some populations live entirely in fresh water. It is best known for its invasion of the Great Lakes by using the Welland Canal to bypass Niagara Falls. Here, its population surged, peaking between the 1950s and 1980s to the detriment of many native species of fish. In an effort to control them biologically, Pacific salmon were introduced, only partially successfully. As a marine fish, the alewife is a US National Marine Fisheries Service "Species of Concern".
Alewife reach a maximum length of about 40 centimetres (16 in), but have an average length of about 25 centimetres (9.8 in). The front of the body is deep and larger than other fish found in the same waters, and its common name is said to come from comparison with a corpulent female tavernkeeper ("ale-wife"),[4] or, alternatively, from the word aloofe,[5][6] possibly of Native American origin,[7] that was used to describe this fish in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Alewife have bronze-colored heads and a grey-blue[8] to greyish green[9] dorsum. A humeral spot is often present.[9] The tongue does not bear teeth.[10] The peritoneum is light-colored with spots[8] to dusky-appearing,[9] an internal feature that distinguishes alewife from blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis), which have a dark peritoneum.[8] Additionally, the eye is larger than that of A. aestivalis;[10] the width of the eye often exceeds the length of the snout in A. pseudoharengus.[9]
Gaspereau, or Gasparot. Name of a common salt-water fish of Acadia (also called alewife), first used, so far as I can find, by Denys in 1672. Nowhere can I find any clue to its origin. It seems not to be Indian.[12]
Acadians named two rivers after the fish, the Gaspereau River in Nova Scotia and the Gaspereau River in New Brunswick.
Both anadromous and landlocked forms occur. The landlocked form is also called a sawbelly or mooneye (although this latter name is more commonly applied to Hiodon spp.) Adult alewife are caught during their spring spawning migration upstream by being scooped out of shallow, constricted areas using large dip nets. They are the preferred bait for the spring lobster fishery in Maine,[13] and are eaten by humans, usually smoked.
Alewife are known for their invasion of the Great Lakes by using the Welland Canal to bypass Niagara Falls. Alewife colonized the Great Lakes and became abundant mostly in Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. They reached their peak abundance from the 1950s through the 1980s. Alewife grew in number unchecked because the lakes lacked a top predator (lake trout were essentially wiped out around the same time by overfishing and the invasion of the sea lamprey).
For a time, alewife, which often exhibit seasonal die-offs, washed up in windrows on the shorelines of the Great Lakes. Various species of Pacific salmon (first coho, and later the Chinook salmon) were introduced as predators. Though marginally successful, this led to the development of a salmon/alewife fishery popular with many sport anglers.
Alewife populations have seen big declines throughout much of their range. Several threats have most likely contributed to their decline, including loss of habitat due to decreased access to spawning areas from the construction of dams and other impediments to migration, habitat degradation, fishing, and increased predation due to recovering striped bass populations.
In response to the declining population trend for alewives, the states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Virginia, and North Carolina have instituted moratoria on taking and possession.
In eastern Massachusetts, Alewife Brook flows through Arlington, Cambridge, and Somerville to the Mystic River. The brook gives its name to the Alewife Brook Parkway and the Alewife Brook Reservation. The Red Line (MBTA) of Boston's T ends at the Alewife station, so the name of this fish adorns the front of every northbound Red Line train. An extensive habitat restoration and education project, combined with a fish ladder with monitoring cameras, is yielding increasing numbers of alewife back in the improving Mystic River watershed.[17]
The alewife is a US National Marine Fisheries Service Species of Concern,[18] about which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Marine Fisheries Service, has some concerns regarding status and threats, but for which insufficient information is available to indicate a need to list the species under the US Endangered Species Act.
References
^NatureServe (2013). "Alosa pseudoharengus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2013: e.T201948A18235694. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T201948A18235694.en. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
^Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2006). "Alosa pseudoharengus" in FishBase. April 2006 version.
^Faria, R.; Weiss, S. & Alexandrino, P. (2006): A molecular phylogenetic perspective on the evolutionary history of Alosa spp. (Clupeidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution40(1): 298–304. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2006.02.008 (HTML abstract)
^Winthorp (1678). "The Description, Culture, and Use of Maiz". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. 12 (142): 1065–1069. Retrieved 10 January 2023 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
^Winthorp (1739). "The Culture of Maize". In Baddam (ed.). Memoirs of the Royal Society; Being a New Abridgment of the Philosophical Transactions. Vol. 2. London. pp. 129–133. hdl:2027/nyp.33433009958483. Retrieved 10 January 2023 – via HathiTrust.
^Bartlett, John Russell (1848). "Alewife". Dictionary of Americanisms: A Glossary of Words and Phrases Usually Regarded as Peculiar to the United States. New York: Bartlett and Welford. p. 6. Retrieved 10 January 2023 – via Google Books.
^ abc"Alewife". Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources. 2023. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
^ abcd"Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) - Native". Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection. 2023 [Adapted from A Pictorial Guide to Freshwater Fishes of Connecticut (R.P. Jacobs & E.B. O'Donnell, 2009)]. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
^ abFuller, P.; Maynard, E.; Raikow, D.; Larson, J.; Fusaro, A.; Neilson, M.; Bartos, A. (5 July 2022) [Peer reviewed 4 August 2021]. "Alosa pseudoharengus (Wilson, 1811)". Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database. Gainesville, FL: U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
^Ganong, W. F. (1910). "The Identity of the Animals and Plants Mentioned by the Early Voyagers to Eastern Canada and Newfoundland". Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada. Royal Society of Canada. III: 218. OL 7061668M. Retrieved June 27, 2013.
^Maine Dept of Marine Resources. . Archived from the original on 2011-09-07.
^Storch, Adam J.; Schulz, Kimberly L.; Cáceres, Carla E.; Smyntek, Peter M.; Dettmers, John M.; Teece, Mark A. (2007). "Consumption of two exotic zooplankton by alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) and rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax) in three Laurentian Great Lakes". Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 64 (10): 1314–1328. doi:10.1139/f07-096.
^Riha, Milan; Walsh, Maureen G.; Connerton, Michael J.; Holden, Jeremy; Weidel, Brian C.; Sullivan, Patrick J.; Holda, Toby J.; Rudstam, Lars G. (2017). "Vertical distribution of alewife in the Lake Ontario offshore: Implications for resource use". Journal of Great Lakes Research. 43 (5): 823–837. doi:10.1016/j.jglr.2017.07.007.
^ abWells, LaRue (1970). "Effects of Alewife Predation on Zooplankton in Lake Michigan". Limnology and Oceanography. 15 (4): 556–565. doi:10.4319/lo.1970.15.4.0556.
^Mystic River Herring Monitoring Project, mysticriver.org. Accessed September 4, 2022.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alosa pseudoharengus.
Species Profile- Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus), National Invasive Species Information Center, United States National Agricultural Library. Lists general information and resources for Alewife.
Fish Win: Maine About-Face Lets Alewives Return to Canada Border River
alewife, fish, other, uses, alewife, alewife, gaspereau, redirects, here, community, gaspereau, nova, scotia, alewife, alosa, pseudoharengus, anadromous, species, herring, found, north, america, typical, north, american, shads, attributed, subgenus, pomolobus,. For other uses of Alewife see Alewife Gaspereau redirects here For the community see Gaspereau Nova Scotia The alewife Alosa pseudoharengus is an anadromous species of herring found in North America It is one of the typical North American shads attributed to the subgenus Pomolobus of the genus Alosa 3 As an adult it is a marine species found in the northern West Atlantic Ocean moving into estuaries before swimming upstream to breed in freshwater habitats but some populations live entirely in fresh water It is best known for its invasion of the Great Lakes by using the Welland Canal to bypass Niagara Falls Here its population surged peaking between the 1950s and 1980s to the detriment of many native species of fish In an effort to control them biologically Pacific salmon were introduced only partially successfully As a marine fish the alewife is a US National Marine Fisheries Service Species of Concern AlewifeConservation statusLeast Concern IUCN 3 1 1 Scientific classificationKingdom AnimaliaPhylum ChordataClass ActinopterygiiOrder ClupeiformesFamily ClupeidaeGenus AlosaSubgenus PomolobusSpecies A pseudoharengusBinomial nameAlosa pseudoharengus A Wilson 1811 2 SynonymsClupea vernalis Mitchill 1815 Contents 1 Description 2 Etymology and folklore 3 In the North American Great Lakes 4 Conservation 5 References 6 Further reading 7 External linksDescription EditAlewife reach a maximum length of about 40 centimetres 16 in but have an average length of about 25 centimetres 9 8 in The front of the body is deep and larger than other fish found in the same waters and its common name is said to come from comparison with a corpulent female tavernkeeper ale wife 4 or alternatively from the word aloofe 5 6 possibly of Native American origin 7 that was used to describe this fish in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Alewife have bronze colored heads and a grey blue 8 to greyish green 9 dorsum A humeral spot is often present 9 The tongue does not bear teeth 10 The peritoneum is light colored with spots 8 to dusky appearing 9 an internal feature that distinguishes alewife from blueback herring Alosa aestivalis which have a dark peritoneum 8 Additionally the eye is larger than that of A aestivalis 10 the width of the eye often exceeds the length of the snout in A pseudoharengus 9 Etymology and folklore EditIn southwestern Nova Scotia alewife are referred to as kiacks or kyacks 11 In Atlantic Canada it is known as the gaspereau from the Acadian French word gasparot first mentioned by Nicolas Denys William Francis Ganong New Brunswick biologist and historian wrote Gaspereau or Gasparot Name of a common salt water fish of Acadia also called alewife first used so far as I can find by Denys in 1672 Nowhere can I find any clue to its origin It seems not to be Indian 12 Acadians named two rivers after the fish the Gaspereau River in Nova Scotia and the Gaspereau River in New Brunswick Both anadromous and landlocked forms occur The landlocked form is also called a sawbelly or mooneye although this latter name is more commonly applied to Hiodon spp Adult alewife are caught during their spring spawning migration upstream by being scooped out of shallow constricted areas using large dip nets They are the preferred bait for the spring lobster fishery in Maine 13 and are eaten by humans usually smoked In the North American Great Lakes EditThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Alewife fish news newspapers books scholar JSTOR September 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Alewife are known for their invasion of the Great Lakes by using the Welland Canal to bypass Niagara Falls Alewife colonized the Great Lakes and became abundant mostly in Lake Huron and Lake Michigan They reached their peak abundance from the 1950s through the 1980s Alewife grew in number unchecked because the lakes lacked a top predator lake trout were essentially wiped out around the same time by overfishing and the invasion of the sea lamprey For a time alewife which often exhibit seasonal die offs washed up in windrows on the shorelines of the Great Lakes Various species of Pacific salmon first coho and later the Chinook salmon were introduced as predators Though marginally successful this led to the development of a salmon alewife fishery popular with many sport anglers In spite of such biological control methods alewife remain implicated in the decline of many native Great Lakes species It is also a common predator of numerous native and non native zooplankton taxa e g Bythotrephes longimanus 14 Leptodiaptomus ashlandi citation needed Limnocalanus spp 15 Leptodiaptomus minutus citation needed Leptodiaptomus sicilis citation needed and Leptodora kindtii 16 Wells 1970 found that increases in population of alewife in the Great Lakes between 1954 and 1966 were associated with population declines in certain larger species of zooplankton while an alewife die off in 1967 was temporally related to population rebound in most of those species 16 Conservation EditThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Alewife fish news newspapers books scholar JSTOR September 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Alewife populations have seen big declines throughout much of their range Several threats have most likely contributed to their decline including loss of habitat due to decreased access to spawning areas from the construction of dams and other impediments to migration habitat degradation fishing and increased predation due to recovering striped bass populations In response to the declining population trend for alewives the states of Massachusetts Rhode Island Connecticut Virginia and North Carolina have instituted moratoria on taking and possession In eastern Massachusetts Alewife Brook flows through Arlington Cambridge and Somerville to the Mystic River The brook gives its name to the Alewife Brook Parkway and the Alewife Brook Reservation The Red Line MBTA of Boston s T ends at the Alewife station so the name of this fish adorns the front of every northbound Red Line train An extensive habitat restoration and education project combined with a fish ladder with monitoring cameras is yielding increasing numbers of alewife back in the improving Mystic River watershed 17 The alewife is a US National Marine Fisheries Service Species of Concern 18 about which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service has some concerns regarding status and threats but for which insufficient information is available to indicate a need to list the species under the US Endangered Species Act References Edit NatureServe 2013 Alosa pseudoharengus IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013 e T201948A18235694 doi 10 2305 IUCN UK 2013 1 RLTS T201948A18235694 en Retrieved 3 October 2022 Froese Rainer Pauly Daniel eds 2006 Alosa pseudoharengus in FishBase April 2006 version Faria R Weiss S amp Alexandrino P 2006 A molecular phylogenetic perspective on the evolutionary history of Alosa spp Clupeidae Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40 1 298 304 doi 10 1016 j ympev 2006 02 008 HTML abstract Oxford English Dictionary Second Edition Winthorp 1678 The Description Culture and Use of Maiz Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 12 142 1065 1069 Retrieved 10 January 2023 via Biodiversity Heritage Library Winthorp 1739 The Culture of Maize In Baddam ed Memoirs of the Royal Society Being a New Abridgment of the Philosophical Transactions Vol 2 London pp 129 133 hdl 2027 nyp 33433009958483 Retrieved 10 January 2023 via HathiTrust Bartlett John Russell 1848 Alewife Dictionary of Americanisms A Glossary of Words and Phrases Usually Regarded as Peculiar to the United States New York Bartlett and Welford p 6 Retrieved 10 January 2023 via Google Books a b c Alewife Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources 2023 Retrieved 11 January 2023 a b c d Alewife Alosa pseudoharengus Native Connecticut Department of Energy amp Environmental Protection 2023 Adapted from A Pictorial Guide to Freshwater Fishes of Connecticut R P Jacobs amp E B O Donnell 2009 Retrieved 11 January 2023 a b Fuller P Maynard E Raikow D Larson J Fusaro A Neilson M Bartos A 5 July 2022 Peer reviewed 4 August 2021 Alosa pseudoharengus Wilson 1811 Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database Gainesville FL U S Geological Survey Retrieved 11 January 2023 Nova Scotia Fisheries Alewife Archived from the original on August 24 2007 Ganong W F 1910 The Identity of the Animals and Plants Mentioned by the Early Voyagers to Eastern Canada and Newfoundland Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada Royal Society of Canada III 218 OL 7061668M Retrieved June 27 2013 Maine Dept of Marine Resources Maine River Herring Fact Sheet Archived from the original on 2011 09 07 Storch Adam J Schulz Kimberly L Caceres Carla E Smyntek Peter M Dettmers John M Teece Mark A 2007 Consumption of two exotic zooplankton by alewife Alosa pseudoharengus and rainbow smelt Osmerus mordax in three Laurentian Great Lakes Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 64 10 1314 1328 doi 10 1139 f07 096 Riha Milan Walsh Maureen G Connerton Michael J Holden Jeremy Weidel Brian C Sullivan Patrick J Holda Toby J Rudstam Lars G 2017 Vertical distribution of alewife in the Lake Ontario offshore Implications for resource use Journal of Great Lakes Research 43 5 823 837 doi 10 1016 j jglr 2017 07 007 a b Wells LaRue 1970 Effects of Alewife Predation on Zooplankton in Lake Michigan Limnology and Oceanography 15 4 556 565 doi 10 4319 lo 1970 15 4 0556 Mystic River Herring Monitoring Project mysticriver org Accessed September 4 2022 Fisheries NOAA 2021 08 18 Endangered Species Conservation NOAA Fisheries NOAA Retrieved 2021 09 18 Further reading EditFisheries and Oceans Canada Alewife Virginia Marine Resources Commission The Man with the Salmon PlanExternal links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alosa pseudoharengus Species Profile Alewife Alosa pseudoharengus National Invasive Species Information Center United States National Agricultural Library Lists general information and resources for Alewife Fish Win Maine About Face Lets Alewives Return to Canada Border River Alewife New International Encyclopedia 1905 Alewife Collier s New Encyclopedia 1921 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Alewife fish amp oldid 1133625356, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
