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| NAS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species |
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Common Name: blueback herring
Synonyms and Other Names: blueback shad, river herring
Taxonomy: available through 
Identification: These fish are silvery in color, have a series of scutes (modified scales that are spiny and keeled) along their belly, and are characterized by deep bluish green backs. The most distinguishing characteristic of this species is the black to dusky in color of its peritoneum (the lining of the abdominal cavity). Blueback herring and alewives are difficult to distinguish from one another and are often regarded collectively as river herring. Alewives have larger eyes, greater body depth, and pearly to white peritoneal linings. Smith (1985); Whitehead (1985); Page and Burr (1991); Jenkins and Burkhead (1994); Owens (1998).
Size: 40 cm.
Native Range:
Atlantic Coast from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, to the St. Johns River, Florida. Ascends coastal rivers during spawning season (Page and Burr 1991).
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Interactive maps: Continental US, Alaska, Hawaii, Caribbean
Nonindigenous Occurrences:
Blueback herring was first collected in Lake Ontario in 1995. It has been collected from the Tennessee River in Georgia and Tennessee (Rassmussen 1998); Oneida Lake, the
Ecology: Anadromous; living in marine systems and spawning in deep, swift freshwater with a hard substrate. Migrate to spawning grounds in the spring. In Connecticut, blueback herring spawn in 14-7oC temperatures. Usually spawns later in the spring than the alewife, when water temperatures are a bit warmer. During spawning, many eggs are deposited over the stream bottom where they stick to gravel, stones, logs, or other objects. Juveniles spend 3-7 months in freshwater, then migrate to the ocean (Yako et al.2002). Blueback herring are a planktivorous forage species (Winkelman et al. 2002).
Means of Introduction: In areas other than New York, these fish were intentionally stocked for forage. In New York these fish are expanding their range using canals. Blueback herrings were first recorded in the Mohawk River in 1978 by NYDEC personnel. They were reported from Lake Champlain on the New York side in the late 1970s, and from the Vermont side in 1997. Juveniles were apparently present in Oneida Lake by 1981 or 1982. Adults were first documented in 1994 by Cornell researchers based at Shackleton Point. Several thousand immature fish were also documented in 1994 at a power plant in Minetto on the Oswego River. Two immature fish were caught in Lake Ontario near Oswego in October 1995 by U.S. Geological Survey personnel conducting fish surveys (Owens, personal communication).
Status: Established in Texas, New York, North Carolina, Vermont, and Virginia.
Impact of Introduction:
Unknown, very likely to find suitable habitat throughout the Great Lakes system. GARP models predict it could find the entire region as suitable habitat, except possibly the deeper waters of Lake Superior (EPA 2008). If blueback herring became established in Lake Ontario, they could spread to other Great Lakes and impede recovery of depressed populations of indigenous fishes such as cisco and lake trout (Owens et al. 1998).Cold water may prevent its establishment.
The introduction of blueback herring into Theo Reservoir in Briscoe County, Texas resulted in the elimination of large-bodied zooplankton such as Leptora, Epischura, Mesocyclops, and Daphnia, while small-bodied zooplankton such as Cerio-daphnia, Tropocyclops and Bosmina increased. There appeared to be little change in lengths of the zooplankton in the reservoir after herring introduction, but the community shifted from cladoceran to copepod dominance.
Remarks: One of the most common fish species in the Hudson River estuary (Hurst et al. 2004). Detection of a small population of blueback herring in Lake Ontario would be difficult because of the size of the Lake relative to the area routinely sampled and the herring's superficial similarity with alewife, a fish sampled in large enough numbers that only a fraction of the adults are examined closely enough to distinguish between the two species (Owens et al. 1998). Owens et al. (1998) also asserted that colonizing a lake with resident population of alewife, a fish that would be in direct competition with blueback herring for space and resources, and a surfeit of piscivores, both stocked and unstocked, may prove too difficult for A. aestivalis.
Good, S. - Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife, Pittsford, VT.
Guest, W. C. 1983. Blueback herring evaluation. Federal Aid Project F-31-R-9.
Hauser, M. 1998. Champlain Canal fish barrier study. Aquatic Nuisance Species Digest 2(3):26--27.
Howells, R. G. 1992a. Annotated list of introduced non-native fishes, mollusks, crustaceans and aquatic plants in Texas waters. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Management Data Series 78, Austin, TX. 19 pp.
Hurst, T. P., K. A. McKown, and D. O. Conover. 2004. Interannual and long-term variation in the nearshore fish community of the mesohaline Hudson River Estuary. Estuaries, 27(4):659-669.
Jenkins, R. E., and N. M. Burkhead. 1994. Freshwater fishes of Virginia. American Fisheries Society, Bethesda, MD.
MacNeill, D. - New York Sea Grant, State University of New York at Brockport, Brockport, NY.
Menhinick, E. F. 1991. The freshwater fishes of North Carolina. North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. 227 pp.
Owens, R. - U.S. Geological Survey, Oswego, NY.
Owens, R. W., R. O'gorman, E. L. Mills, L. G. Rudstam, J. J. Hasse, B. H. Kulik, and D. R. MacNeill. 1998. Blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis) in Lake Ontario: First record, entry route, and colonization potential. Journal of Great Lakes Research, 24(3):723-730.
Page, L. M., and B. M. Burr. 1991. A field guide to freshwater fishes of North America north of Mexico. The Peterson Field Guide Series, volume 42. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA.
Rasmussen, J.L. 1998. Aquatic nuisance species of the Mississippi River basin. 60th Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference, Aquatic Nuisance Symposium, Cincinatti, OH. 7 December 1998.
Rohde, F.C., R.G. Arndt, J.W. Foltz, and J.M. Quattro. 2009. Freshwater Fishes of South Carolina. University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, SC, 430 pp.
Winkelman, D. L. and M. J. Van Der Avyle. 2002. A comparison of diets of blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis) and threadfin shad (Dorosoma petenense) in a large southeastern reservoir. Journal of Freshwater Ecology, 17(2): 209-221.
Yako, L. A., M. E. Mather, and F. Juanes. 2002. Mechanisms for migration of anadromous herring: An ecological basis for effective conservation. Ecological Applications, 12(2): 521-534.
Other Resources:
Alosa spp. (ANS Clearinghouse Bibliography)
Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Great Lakes Water LifeAuthor: Pam Fuller and Greg Jacobs
Contributing Agencies: 
NOAA - GLERL
Revision Date: 9/22/2009 Citation for this information:
Pam Fuller and Greg Jacobs. 2009. Alosa aestivalis. USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, Gainesville, FL.
<http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.asp?speciesID=488> Revision Date: 9/22/2009
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