Species: Brevoortia tyrannus, Menhaden, Atlantic Menhaden

Brevoortia tyrannus (Latrobe, 1802)

Atlantic Menhaden, Menhaden

Deep bodied, compressed; head, and especially the gill cover, large; mouth large; upper jaw with a distinct central notch into which the tip of the lower jaw fits; adults without jaw teeth; gill rakers long, fine, numerous, those on upper part of gill arch overlapping those on lower arm; dorsal and anal fins short, anal origin under or behind last dorsal ray; pelvics i, 6; its rear margin rounded, oblique, inner rays equal to or nearly equal to outer rays when fin is folded back; a forked tail fin; belly midline fully covered with a keel of scutes (hard, spiny scales), 30-32 scutes; scales rough, large, 45-52 (40-58) in lateral series; scales on upper tail base and base of tail fin much smaller and irregularly spaced; back before dorsal fin with a ridge along the midline formed by a double line of modified scales.

Green blue above, silvery on sides; a black spot just behind upper corner of operculum, with variable numbers of smaller spots forming up to 6 lines behind that.

Reaches 60 cm.

Marine, inshore pelagic to as much as 80 km offshore, also enters brackish and near freshwater.

Depth range: 0-50 m.

Nova Scotia to Florida.