Dorosoma cepedianum, American gizzard shad : fisheries, gamefish, bait

You can sponsor this page

Dorosoma cepedianum (Lesueur, 1818)

American gizzard shad
Add your observation in Fish Watcher
Native range | All suitable habitat | Point map | Year 2050
This map was computer-generated and has not yet been reviewed.
Dorosoma cepedianum   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
Upload your photos and videos
Pictures | Sounds | Google image
Image of Dorosoma cepedianum (American gizzard shad)
Dorosoma cepedianum
Picture by Perusquía, E.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Clupeiformes (Herrings) > Dorosomatidae (Gizzard shads and sardinellas)
Etymology: Dorosoma: Greek, doris = lance + Greek, soma = body (Ref. 45335);  cepedianum: Doro=lanceolate; soma=body (referring to the body shape of the young), and cepedianum, in honor of Bernard Germain Etienne de la Ville sur Ilion, Comte de La Cepede (1756-1825) (Ref. 79012).
More on author: Lesueur.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; freshwater; brackish; pelagic-neritic; anadromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 0 - 33 m (Ref. 39020). Subtropical; ? - 32°C (Ref. 12741); 49°N - 21°N, 108°W - 70°W (Ref. 188)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Northwest Atlantic: North America and Gulf of Mexico drainage (southeast South Dakota and central Minnesota, Great Lakes drainage, i.e. in Lake Erie, southern parts of Lakes Huron and Michigan, Lake Ontario basin; not Lake Superior; southernmost New York southward to the Mississippi system and to Gulf southward to Río Pánuco, Mexico.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 36.1  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 57.0 cm FL male/unsexed; (Ref. 40637); common length : 35.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 7251); max. published weight: 2.0 kg (Ref. 40637); max. reported age: 10 years (Ref. 72462)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 10-15; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 25 - 36; Vertebrae: 47 - 51. Body moderately deep; belly with 17 to 20 - 10 to 14 scutes. Mouth small; lower jaw short. Last dorsal fin ray long, about equal to distance from snout tip to mid-pectoral fin or beyond; anal fin long. Scales small, somewhat irregular. A dark spot behind gill opening. Gill rakers fine and numerous (Ref. 188). Branchiostegal rays 6 (Ref. 4639). Silvery to brassy, with a bluish back. Stomach thick-walled, gizzard-like (Ref. 7251).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Inhabits open water of medium to large rivers, lakes, and impoundments. Ascends creeks and small rivers with well-developed pools and enters brackish water (Ref. 86798). Occurs mainly in freshwater in large rivers, reservoirs, lakes, swamps, temporary floodwater pools, etc., but adults also found in brackish or saline water of estuaries or bays, preferring quieter open waters. Juveniles are found in great abundance well upstream from brackish water (Ref. 39041). Very young individuals apparently never enter brackish water (Ref. 38947). Larvae are most abundant in surface waters both day and night (Ref. 4639). A herbivorous filter-feeder almost entirely. Breed near the surface in freshwater from late winter (mid-March) through most of the summer (at least to about mid-August). The adhesive eggs sink. Used to some extent as fertilizer and cattle food (Ref. 188).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Temperature range for spawning: 10°C-28.9°C (Ref. 39042), usually most active above 18°C (Ref. 862, 3742).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Whitehead, P.J.P., 1985. FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 7. Clupeoid fishes of the world (suborder Clupeoidei). An annotated and illustrated catalogue of the herrings, sardines, pilchards, sprats, shads, anchovies and wolf-herrings. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(7/1):1-303. Rome: FAO. (Ref. 188)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 09 July 2018

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: minor commercial; gamefish: yes; bait: usually
FAO - Fisheries: landings; Publication: search | FishSource | Sea Around Us

More information

Age/Size
Growth
Length-weight
Length-length
Length-frequencies
Morphometrics
Morphology
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Recruitment
Abundance
BRUVS
References
Aquaculture
Aquaculture profile
Strains
Genetics
Electrophoreses
Heritability
Diseases
Processing
Nutrients
Mass conversion
Collaborators
Pictures
Stamps, Coins Misc.
Sounds
Ciguatera
Speed
Swim. type
Gill area
Otoliths
Brains
Vision

Tools

Special reports

Download XML

Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Alien/Invasive Species database | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Fisheries: landings; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | GoMexSI (interaction data) | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 12.8 - 26.8, mean 24 °C (based on 244 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5312   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00912 (0.00790 - 0.01053), b=3.04 (3.00 - 3.08), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  2.4   ±0.21 se; based on food items.
Generation time: 6.1 ( na - na) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 2 growth studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (tm=2; tmax=6).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low to moderate vulnerability (30 of 100).
Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649):  Moderate to high vulnerability (49 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Low.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 91.8 [52.8, 153.9] mg/100g; Iron = 1.56 [0.89, 2.61] mg/100g; Protein = 19.8 [18.6, 20.8] %; Omega3 = 0.498 [0.293, 0.826] g/100g; Selenium = 22.4 [11.4, 43.7] μg/100g; VitaminA = 6.48 [2.54, 17.22] μg/100g; Zinc = 1.11 [0.75, 1.57] mg/100g (wet weight);