Atlantic herring are sometimes confused with river herrings. Sea herring spend their entire life at sea, while river herring move annually into freshwater to spawn. Life History Atlantic herring are oceanic plankton-feeding fish that occur in large schools, and inhabit coastal and continental shelf waters from Virginia to Labrador.
Herring are an important food source for many species of fish, whales, and seabirds.
Herring spawn as early as August in Nova Scotia and eastern Maine, and during October and November in the southern Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank and Nantucket Shoals. Spawning habitat consists of rock, gravel, or sand bottoms, ranging in depth from 50 to 150 feet. Females produce 30,000 to 200,000 eggs each, which sink to the bottom and stick in layers or clumps to the bottom, seaweed, and other substrates. Schools produce so many eggs that the ocean bottom is covered in herring eggs. Eggs hatch in 10 to 12 days depending on water temperature.