Fish Facts: American Shad – Alosa sapidissima

The American shad (Alosa sapidissima) range along the Atlantic coast, from Florida to Canada. Here is an unsual trait. American Shad that spawn in rivers south of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina die after spawning but those that spawn north of there often survive to spawn multiple times.

American Shad in the past were very abundand and supported a large commercial harvest, dams and overfishing commercially knocked the population way down. Now that fishing pressure both commercially and recreationally is very low there is the hope that the population will rebound but that has not happened. Habitat apparently just doesn’t support a huge population anymore.

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