Alewife: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the alewife lives – recorded in 2 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Alosa pseudoharengus
Group	Bony fish
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	2 countries
Continents	North America
Class	Ray-finned fish
Order	Clupeiformes
Family	Clupeidae

Where does the alewife live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the alewife in 2 countries and territories across North America.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

Is the alewife endangered?

The alewife’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the alewife?

The alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) is a ray-finned fish in the order Clupeiformes and the family Clupeidae, genus Alosa. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the alewife

The alewife or river herring (Alosa pseudoharengus; pl.: alewives) is a species of herring found in North America. It is commonly anadromous but there are also significant landlocked populations. It is one of the smaller species of shad, of the subgenus Pomolobus. As an adult it is a marine species found in the northern West Atlantic Ocean, moving into estuaries before swimming upstream to breed in freshwater habitats, but some populations live entirely in fresh water.

It is known for its colonization of the Great Lakes via the Welland Canal, bypassing Niagara Falls. There, its population peaked between the 1950s and 1980s to the detriment of many native species of fish. In an effort to control it biologically, Pacific salmon were introduced, only partially successfully. As a marine fish, the alewife is a US National Marine Fisheries Service "Species of Concern".

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Alewife (fish) (revision 1372630479), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q659283 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).