CLASS PISCES.
113
Gentis CLUPEA, sp., Artedi.
Clupea harengus, Linn. Herring.
This occurs commonly all round the coast. It was
formerly taken in the Estuary of the Blackwater in sufficient
numbers to make it worth while to fish for it with drift-nets
after the manner followed (although on a much larger scale)
in the North Sea. Of late years, considerable numbers of
Whitebait, satisfactorily proved to be Herring fry, have been
taken in the Crouch and the Blackwater, and dispatched to
London.
Clupea pilchardus, Artedi. Pilchard.
Is occasionally taken on the coast. Dale gives it in his
list of Harwich fish, and says (Hist. of Harwich, p. 432): " It
is rare, but is occasionally brought among Herrings to market."
Day says (Fishes of Great Brit., vol. ii., p. 230) Yarrell
obtained one in May, 1838, from the mouth of the Thames.
Clupea sprattus, Linn. Sprat.
Enormous numbers of this fish are taken off our coast by
the stow-boat fishermen. A good Sprat season is the great
harvest of the Wyvenhoe and Brightlingsea men, and plenty
of Sprats means to these places a prosperous winter. An
immense proportion of the fish taken is used for manure, but
very large quantities are sold in a fresh state for food. The
Aldeburgh plan of fishing with drift-nets is not so destructive
to the immature, not only of sprats but of all other kinds of
fish, as is our stow-boat fishing.
Clupea alosa, Linn. Allis Shad.
I have never taken this fish. Day (Fishes of Great Britain,
vol. ii., p. 236), quoting Yarrell, mentions one being taken in
the Thames above Putney in 1831. Jenyns describes it (Brit.
Vert. Animals, p. 438) as "occasionally, though rarely, taken
in the Thames."
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