noun
definition
Any of several species of fish in the genera Brevoortia and Ethmidium, used for fish meal, fish oil, fertilizer, and bait.
Examples of menhaden in a Sentence
Large numbers of shad, blue fish, weak fish (squeteague), alewives, Spanish mackerel, perch, bass, croakers (Micropogon undulatus), mullet, menhaden, oysters and clams are caught in the sounds, in the lower courses of the rivers flowing into them, or in the neighbouring waters of the sea.
The fisheries are chiefly of shad, oysters, mullet, alewives, clams, black bass, menhaden, croakers and bluefish.
Peckham, but others have held that it is of exclusively animal origin, a view supported by such occurrences as those in the orthoceratities of the Trenton limestone, and by the experiments of C. Engler, who obtained a liquid like crude petroleum by the distillation of menhaden (fish) oil.
Its scientific name is Clupea (or Alosa) menhaden and Brevoortia tyrannus.
The average size of the menhaden is about 12 in.
Menhaden are caught in much larger quantities in New York than any other fish, but being too bony for food they are used only in the manufacture of oil and fertilizer.
The waters of the Chesapeake Bay are especially rich in oysters and crabs, and there, also, shad, alewives, " striped " (commonly called " rock ") bass, menhaden, white perch and weak-fish (" sea-trout ") occur in large numbers.
Next in importance were the catches of menhaden, shad, clams, squeteague and alewives; while minor catches were made of crabs, croaker, bluefish, butterfish, catfish, perch and spotted and striped bass.
Other, but closely allied species, occur on the Atlantic coasts of North America, all surpassing the European species in importance as food-fishes and economic value, viz., the American shad (Clupea sapidissima), the gaspereau or ale-wife (C. mattowocca or vernalis), and the menhaden (C. menhaden).
The waters of the coast and bays abound in shad, menhaden, bluefish, weak-fish (squeteague), clams and oysters.
In 1909 the State Bureau of Shell Fisheries estimated the annual value of shell fisheries in the state at nearly $6,000,000, of which $500,000 was the value of clams. Monmouth, Ocean and Cape May counties furnish large quantities of menhaden, which are utilized for oil and fertilizer.
On account of the importations from Canada, Chesapeake Bay and the Great Lakes, the mackerel, cod and menhaden fisheries declined, especially after 1860, and the oyster and lobster fisheries are not as important as formerly.
In the inland waters salmon, trout, togue (Salvelinus namaycush), pickerel and bass abound; along the shore there are lobsters, clams and scallops (Pecten irradians); and off the shore are herring, alewives, mackerel, cod, halibut, haddock, smelts, hake, menhaden, porgies and porpoises.