The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1909-09-30
Herring, King OF Sea.
Most Valuable Fish in Waters of the World.
Food For The Millions. Supports Many
Industries in Various Parts of Globe.


Food For The Millions. Supports Many
Industries in Various Parts of Globe
Hugh M Smith. Deputy Commissioner of Fish
cries, in the National Geographic Magazine
When one takes bird 's-eye view of
the world he quickly perceives that there
is no family of fishes and no group of
aquatic animals that contributes so large
the behring's. The family has 200 mem
bers, nearly all of which exist in great
abundance.
In nearly every country having extern
sive fisheries some kind of herring is of
Importance, and in many countries rep
resentatives of the family are among the
most valuable of the water products.
Some of the behring's live exclusively in
salt water, some exclusively in fresh
water, and some alternately in the sea
and streams.
Characters by which the behring's may
readily be recognized are the presence
of a single dorsal fin, which, like all the
other fins, is composed only of soft or
non-spinous rays; the absence of an adj
pose or dorsal fin, such as occurs in the
salmon and trout; a swim bladder,
which communicates with the esophagus
by pneumatic duct: four gills; forked
tail; a terminal mouth with weak or de-
ticient teeth fully scaled body but
naked head; the absence of a series of
lateral line organs, and a generally
silvery coloration. The structure of the
mouth parts determines the food which
usually consists of minute animals and
plants, strained from the water by the
numerous gill-rakers.
On the east coast of North America
we have such well-known and important
members of the family as the sea-her-
ring, the shad, the river behring's or ale
wives, the West Indian sardine, and the
menhaden, the last doubtless the most
abundant fish on our shores. On the
Pacific coast of North America are the
California sardine and the scattering.
On the shores of Europe are the Alice
shad and the Twaite shad the pilchard,
which when young is canned under the
name of sardine and sent to the outer
most confines of civilizations; the sprat,
and the scattering. In the Caspian and
Black seas and in the Volga behring's oc-
cur in great abundance and are the prln-
cipal fish of those regions. The seas
that wash the shores of northern Asia,
particularly those of Siberia, Korea, and
Japan, teen with number of kinds of
behring's and sardines. In the waters of
the Philippine and East Indian archipela-
goes, small and large members of the
family abound In the rivers of India
runs the hilsa, which is similar to the
American shad, and on the coast of India
occur schools of the oil sardine. Herrings
likewise exist in Australia and New Zea-
land; in the rivers and coastal waters OF
Africa, and at the southern extremity of
the Western Hemisphere, where the
Chill sardine abounds.
HAS DETERMINED NATIONS DESTINY.
But the herring par excellence is the
sea herring of the north Atlantic and
the scarcely distinguishable sea herring
of the north Pacific. The fsh-biologi-
cally two species, commercially one
specie-is the most abundant and most
valuable in the world, and is therefore
entitled to be called king
The sea behring's are cold water fish
and reach their greatest abundance in far
northern ATTITUDES. The herring of the
Atlantic, called Clupea harengus by Lin
naeus, has remarkably wide distribu-
ton. On the western shores of Europe
its southern limit is the Strait of Gibral-
tar, whence it ranges to the White sea
and the Arctic ocean as far north as
Spltzbergen, occurringin enormous num-
beers in the Bay of Biscay, North sea,
Baltic sea and Norwegian sea. 1t is thus
found on TIE coasts of Spain, Portugal,
France, Belgium, Holland, England,
Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Denmark, Ger
many, Russia, Finland, Sweden and Nor
way. With Iceland as an intermediate
station, the fish crosses to the shores of
Greenland and extends its range south
ward and westward to Labrador, New
foundland Quebec, New Brunswick,
Nova Scotia and the New England shores,
going in winter occasionally to New
York and exceptionally as far south as
the Virginia capes. The north Pacific
herring, first called Clupea pallasi by Gu
Vler and Nalenciennese, exists in the
same extraordinary abundance as the At
lantic fish and has also very extensive
range, being found from California to
Alaska and from Siberia to Korea and
Japan.
A tale as stirring as any fiction could
be based on the part played by the sea
herring in the history of some of the
principal countries. "It's spawning and
feeding grounds have determined the To-
cation of cities, and in several instances
the actual destiny of nations and the
fate of monarchs appear to have been in
FolFta III lhe herring IlSnefy.
Countries in which the quest of the
herring is an important industry are the
United States, the Canadian provinces
of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Que
bee and British Columbia, Newfound-
lard, England, Scotland, Wales and Ire
land, Norway, Sweden and Denmark,
Russia, Germany, Holland, Belgium,
France, Japan and Siberia
The chief purpose the herring sub
serves in nature is to be the food of a
host of other creatures, some of which
are of great economic value The most
important of the fishes that subsist regu-
larly on herring are the cod, haddock,
hake and pollock, all of which consume
immense quantities Of herring and her
ring spawn. Mackerel, albacore and va
rious other high-sea fishes prey largely
on herring at times, and numerous
species of little or no value to man like
the sharks, dogfshes, sculpins and
fiounders-often gorge themselves with
herring and their recently deposited
eggs.
Among the marine mammaia, whales,
porpoises, dolphins and seal prey on the
herring and sometimes subsist almost en-
tirely on this fish.
On parts of our northeast coast proba-
bly, the worst enemy of the young herring
J L e