Brevoortia tyrannus, Atlantic menhaden : fisheries
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Brevoortia tyrannus (Latrobe, 1802)

Atlantic menhaden
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Brevoortia tyrannus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Brevoortia tyrannus (Atlantic menhaden)
Brevoortia tyrannus
Picture by Flescher, D.

Common names from other countries

Menhaden tyran, Lacha tirana, Bony fish, ... more

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

Teleostei (teleosts) > Clupeiformes (Herrings) > Alosidae (Shads and Sardines)
Etymology: Brevoortia: From James Carson Brevoort (1818-1887), studie the fauna from Ohio and South Caroline (Ref. 45335).
Eponymy: James Carson Brevoort (1818–1887) was an American collector of coins and rare books. [...] (Ref. 128868), visit book page.

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

Marine; brackish; pelagic-neritic; pH range: 1.0 - 36.0; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 0 - 50 m (Ref. 188). Subtropical; ? - 26°C (Ref. 38970); 46°N - 30°N, 81°W - 64°W (Ref. 54290)

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

Western Atlantic: Nova Scotia, Canada southward to Indian River, Florida, USA.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 25.0, range 18 - 32 cm
Max length : 50.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 188)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 18 - 24; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 18 - 24. Upper jaw with median notch. Pelvic fin with rounded hind margin, inner fin rays equal or nearly equal to outer fin rays when fin folded back. Pre-dorsal scales modified; scales on back, above base of anal fin and at base of tail much smaller and irregularly placed. A black spot behind gill opening, followed along flank by approximately 6 lines of smaller spots (Ref. 188). Silvery, with brassy sides and a dark bluish green back (Ref. 7251).
Body shape (shape guide): fusiform / normal; Cross section: compressed.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Found inshore in summer, but at least some moving into deeper water in winter. Adults are found in near surface waters (Ref. 38984), usually in shallow areas overlying continental shelf, in greatest abundance immediately adjacent to major estuaries (Ref. 4639). Juveniles are also generally pelagic, with smallest size groups farthest up river (Ref. 38986). Form large and very compact schools, both of juveniles and adults. Migrate north - south; also in and out of bays and inlets. Feed by filtering phytoplankton (diatoms (Ref. 5951)) and zooplankton (small crustaceans, annelid worms and detritus (Ref. 5951)). High water temperatures apparently limit breeding. Spawn probably all year; nursery areas in estuaries. Larvae are pelagic (Ref. 38985), probably spend about a month in waters over continental shelf (Ref. 38983), entering estuarine waters at about 10 mm and larger (Ref. 844). Marketed fresh, salted, canned or smoked. Mainly used for production of oil, fertilizer and fishmeal (Ref. 188). Parasites found are isopods, copepod, cestodes and trematodes (Ref. 37032).

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

Breeding season apparently limited by high water temperatures (20.5°C monthly mean maximum). Spawning activity occurring almost every month in some part of the range (Ref. 2472, 39013, 844). Spawning temperature ranges from 4.4°C to 23.6°C, with peak activity at 15-18°C (Ref. 39014). Salinity ranges from 10 ppt (Ref. 39015) to usually greater than 25 ppt (Ref. 844). Fecundity observed is from 38,000 to 631,000 eggs per season (Ref. 39013).

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: Version 2025-1)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 07 July 2015

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: highly commercial
FAO - Fisheries: landings, species profile; Publication: search | FishSource | Sea Around Us

More information

Trophic ecology
Food items (preys)
Diet composition
Food consumption
Food rations
Predators
Ecology
Ecology
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Population dynamics
Growth parameters
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
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Recruitment
Abundance
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Maturity/Gills rel.
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Stamps, coins, misc.
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References

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Fisheries: landings, species profile; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | OceanAdapt | OneZoom | Open Tree of Life | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | TreeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 7.5 - 24.4, mean 13.2 °C (based on 120 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5156   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01023 (0.00598 - 0.01751), b=3.14 (2.99 - 3.29), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.2   ±0.2 se; based on diet studies.
Generation time: 2.8 (2.4 - 3.6) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 38 growth studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.4; tm=1-3; Fec=38,000).
Prior r = 0.31, 95% CL = 0.20 - 0.46, Based on 1 data-limited stock assessment.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Low to moderate vulnerability (30 of 100). 🛈
Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649):  Moderate vulnerability (45 of 100). 🛈
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Low.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 87.7 [51.9, 140.0] mg/100g; Iron = 1.45 [0.83, 2.30] mg/100g; Protein = 20 [19, 21] %; Omega3 = 0.58 [0.35, 0.93] g/100g; Selenium = 21.6 [11.4, 40.2] μg/100g; VitaminA = 8.6 [3.6, 21.0] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.964 [0.676, 1.343] mg/100g (wet weight);