Genus: Brevoortia, Menhaden Herring, Menhadens

BREVOORTIA

MENHADENS

Deep bodied, compressed; head, and especially the gill cover, large; mouth short, large, upper jaw with a distinct, deep 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; anal fin relatively short based, origin under or behind last dorsal ray, last dorsal fin ray not filamentous; pelvic fins on the abdomen below the dorsal fin, i, 6; a forked tail fin; scales rough; belly midline fully covered with a keel of scutes (hard, spiny scales); back before dorsal fin with a ridge along the midline formed by a double line of modified scales.

A West Atlantic genus with 6 species; 3 of the 4 NW Atlantic species in our area, including 2 endemics.