• Norwegian: sildefisker

Characteristics:

The ventral fin of herrings is usually positioned well behind the breast fin. The tail fin is deeply forked. They typically lack a lateral line. The body of these silvery fishes are usually very streamlined and build for high speed swimming. Herrings and anchovies are usually found in large shoals which contributes to the large commercial interest. Plankton is the main source of food.

Taxonomy:

The herrings (Clupeidae) and anchovies (Engruaulidae) include several species, where the Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) and Sprat (Sprattus sprattus) are perhaps best known in the North-East Atlantic Ocean. Worldwide, there are six families in this order.