Pacific Herring

Clupea pallasii

Pacific Herring are small, silvery fish with a bluish-green back and silver-white sides. Their bodies are laterally compressed, and they possess a deeply forked caudal fin. Unlike some other herring species, they lack scales on their heads and gills, and their scales are large and easily shed. These fish can reach up to 46 cm in length, though they are typically around 25 cm. Pacific Herring are found in the Pacific Ocean, from Baja California to the Bering Sea in North America, and from the Aleutian Islands to Japan and Korea in Asia. They inhabit coastal and pelagic-neritic environments, often preferring depths shallower than 80 meters. This species is known for forming large schools and is a key prey item for many marine predators. Spawning occurs in sheltered bays and estuaries, where females lay up to 20,000 eggs on vegetation like eelgrass. Males release milt to fertilize the eggs, which hatch in about ten days. Despite their high reproductive output, only a small fraction of eggs survive to adulthood due to predation. Although their populations have experienced declines due to overfishing, they are slowly recovering in some areas.