Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) is a saltwater, freshwater, brackish species recorded in the United States. It is found at depths of 0–475 m.
Scientific name: Clupea pallasii · Water: Saltwater, Freshwater, Brackish
Size: up to 46 cm
The Pacific herring is a neritic, coastal and schooling clupeid; landlocked populations also exist, and mature adults migrate inshore, entering estuaries to breed. Young fish form schools in shallow bays, inlets and channels that appear at the surface, and then remain in deep water for the next two to three years. Young feed mainly on crustaceans but also take decapod and mollusk larvae, while adults prey mainly on large crustaceans and small fishes. Because it does not undertake extensive coastal migrations, mixing of local populations is relatively rare. In the eastern Pacific the fish is caught mainly for roe markets in Asia, and there is also a fishery for the eggs laid on kelp. Its range is Arctic and Pacific: from the White Sea eastward to Queen Maud Gulf in Nunavut, in the western Pacific from Anadyr Bay and the eastern coasts of Kamchatka, possibly the Aleutian Islands, southward to Japan and the west coast of Korea, and in the eastern Pacific from the Kent Peninsula and the Beaufort Sea southward to northern Baja California. Maximum length is about 46 cm total length, commonly about 25 cm standard length, and it can live 19 years, maturing at about 21 cm. It is a highly commercial species, a gamefish and is usually used as bait, with a low price category. Fishing vulnerability is moderate to high at 49 of 100 and resilience medium, and climate vulnerability is low at 22 of 100. IUCN lists it as data deficient.
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