In less than a week, the young alewives hatch to begin feeding on minute, free-floating plants and animals. By fall, the young alewives make their way back to the sea or, in the case of landlocked populations, to the deep waters of lakes. Landlocked alewives reach an average length of about 6 inches when adults. They have been stocked in some waters specifically to provide food for trout and salmon. Distribution of alewives in NY state.
Dark dots represent where actual samples of alewives taken.
White dots represent historic distributions. A 197 KB image of the alewife is also available for download .