Oily forage fish that travel in huge schools through the shallow, temperate waters of the North Atlantic and North Pacific, including the Baltic Sea. Long an important food fish, they are often salted, smoked or pickled. The Atlantic herring makes up over half of the herring catch.
Quick answers
What is it?Fish
Carnivore?Yes
Dangerous?No
Domesticated?No
Awake when?Day & night
Hibernates?No
Kept as a pet?No
Do people eat it?Yes
A staple food since at least 3000 BC, often salted, smoked or pickled.
At a glance
Found inOceans
HabitatOpen ocean, Coast
ColoursSilver, Blue
SizeSmall
LengthBaltic herring 14–18 cm; Atlantic herring up to about 46 cm
WeightAtlantic herring: up to 700 g
LegsNone
Covered inScales
Lives ingroups
Lives for12–20 years
Can swim
Lays eggs
In the wild
- Where it lives
- North Atlantic and North Pacific, the Baltic Sea and off western South America.
- What it eats
- Copepods and other zooplankton, krill, and small fish and fish larvae.
Did you know
Shoals can hold billions of fish and stretch for miles.
At night, a passing school can set the plankton around it glowing.
In the UK, herring were once known as "silver darlings".
Often confused with
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