11-20-2009, 07:29 PM
[left] Interesting information on shad. [url "http://www.arkansasstripers.com/shadspecies"]www.arkansasstripers.com/shadspecies[/url]
[left]BaySport
[left]
[center]Threadfin shad live primarily on microscopic plant and animal life, phytoplankton and zooplankton, which is why they are often found around rock riprap, bridge and dock pilings, and areas with gentle current where algae grows or is washed into the system.
They are more surface-oriented than gizzard shad, and frequently move in huge schools just under the surface, sometimes migrating for miles each day.
[center]![[Image: tfshad.jpg]](http://www.arkansasstripers.com/images/tfshad.jpg)
Threadfin Shad
[center]Dorosoma Petenense
[ul][li]
[left]Coloration:
Back dark gray to bluish black; sides and abdomen silvery
[li]
[left]Mouth:
Bottom lip protruding; bottom of mouth cavity with black spots
Top jaw stops in front of eye margin
[li]
[left]Body:
Deep, strongly compressed laterally. Average length less than 4inches. Scales cycloid, deciduous. Lateral line lacking. Median lateral series of scales 40-48. Ridge of sawlike ventral scutes on abdomen. Dorsal Fin filament: long, reaches almost to caudal.
[li]
[left]Biology and Spawning:
Usually congregating in large schools over deep water in daylight hours, moving to shallower water at night.
Sensitive to cool temperature, swimming ability decreases below 54 degrees.
Death occurs at 41degrees.
Threadfin shad spawn on the surface shortly after dawn along a weedy shoreline or in open water around rafts of driftwood and debris.
Adhesive eggs stick to leaves and branches of shoreline vegetation or floating debris until hatching occurs in 2-4 days.
Spawning begins when surface temperature at dawn exceeds 62 F and may continue until surface temperature exceeds 83 F.
Most spawning happens in May and June but a September spawn may occur when plankton forage conditions are ideal.
Females carry 900 to 21,000 eggs for spawning annually.
Seldom live beyond 2-3 years.
Distinct spot smaller than eye behind gill. Always present
Yellowish, except the dorsal; caudal deeper yellow.
Scale count: median series, 40-48
Fin ray counts: dorsal 14, anal 20-25,
[/li][/ul]
[left]
[left]
[center]
[left]Gizzard shad are omnivorous filter feeder taking both phytoplankton and zoo plankton. The adults have more than 400, fine gill rakers that can catch minute plankton. Gizzard Shad have an unusual digestion process for fish. The vegetable material they eat is ground in a gizzard like stomach. Some bottom material[/url] is often ingested while feeding.
[left]The Rapid growth of the Gizzard Shad means that largemouth and smallmouth bass are able to eat them for only a short time each spring. The Gizzard Shad spends most of its time in large schools cruising for food.
[left]
![[Image: gizzardshad.jpg]](http://www.arkansasstripers.com/images/gizzardshad.jpg)
Habitat:[/url]
[ul][li]
[left]The gizzard shad is a schooling fish found in lakes and impoundments. It also lives in the backwaters of sluggish rivers and the deep, slow pools of smaller streams. Gizzard shad become more abundant as eutrophication in a lake takes place – that is, as a lake gains fertility through natural aging or added pollutants.
Generally found in fresh water, gizzard shad can also live in the brackish water of tidal zones and estuaries. Unlike many other herrings, gizzard shad are nonmigratory and stay near their home areas. They are often found over a mucky bottom, which they filter when feeding.
[/li][li]
[left]Life history:[/url]The gizzard shad spawns in spring, May to June, when water temperatures reach the mid-60s to mid-70s.
Striped bass are the dominant predator for the large Gizzards and keep them under control so that young Largemouth bass and Large shad don't have to compete for the same limited planktonic food allowing the fingerling black bass to grow quicker.
Gizzard shad move upstream into shallower waters to spawn, but otherwise show no obvious spawning migration pattern.
Young gizzard shad School in quiet surface waters, bigger adults near bottom. Six week spawning period. Most spawn at age 2. Buoyant larvae become plankton. Life span 4-6 years, few live beyond age 3
[/li][li]
[left]Feeding Habits:[/url]Gizzard shad are filter feeders straining small organisms particularly from organic deposits. Adults have fine gill rakers to strain these minute plant plankton; the food is ground and digested in their gizzard-like stomach, hence the name.
[/li][/ul]
[ul][li]
[left]Coloration:[/url]Back silvery blue, somewhat iridescent; sides silvery above, whitish below; abdomen white.
Fins darkened.
Dark purplish spot about the size of the eye present immediately behind the upper end of the gill opening.
Spot becomes obsolete and disappears with age.
[li]
[left]Mouth: [/url]Small sub-terminal, slightly overhung by the rounded snout.
Centrally notched upper jaw protrudes slightly beyond lower jaw.
Upper jaw reaching below the front margin of the eye.
Gill rakers long, slender
[li]
[left]Body:[/url] Deep strongly compressed laterally.
Average length 8.5 -13.5 in.
Scales large, thin, rounded and smooth-edged , Falling off or shed at a specific season or stage of growth.
Lateral line lacking.
Median lateral series of scales 61 (52-70).
Ridge of sawlike scales close to the abdomen.
[li]
[left]Gizzard Shad [/url]differ from Threadfin Shad by:lower jaw shorter than upper jaw;
a much shorter dorsal fin filament;
absence of black pigment on the chin and floor of mouth; more than 17 midventral scutes in the prepelvic series;
more scales in the lateral series; more anal fin rays.
[li]
[left]Biology and Spawning: [/url] Spring when water temperatures reach the 60s, the gizzard shad spawn begins at night in shallow water. As early as age two they gather in large schools to broadcast their eggs and milt in shoreline shallows. Females produce up to 400,000 eggs that adhere to plant and rock substrate, the eggs hatching in two to three days. No nesting behavior or parental care is shown by adults. Growth is rapid – up to seven inches in the first year.Will school up as juveniles in quiet surface waters, adults near bottom.
Spawn at night in spring, in shallows.
Eggs randomly scattered adhere to plants, rocks or firm substrate.
Preferred Temps 66 -72 degrees F. Will start at 50 degrees
Six week spawning period.
Most spawn at age 2.
producing 22,000 to 400,000 eggs .
Incubation 2-4 days.
Buoyant larvae become plankton.
Life span 4-6 years, few live beyond age 3.
Adult die-offs common.
Adults bottom filter feeding from areas along shorelines.
Open water fish have mostly phytoplankton and sand for digestion.
Juveniles planktivorous.
Preferred temp is 72 -76 degrees F.
[/li][/ul]
[signature]
[left]BaySport
[left]
[center]Threadfin shad live primarily on microscopic plant and animal life, phytoplankton and zooplankton, which is why they are often found around rock riprap, bridge and dock pilings, and areas with gentle current where algae grows or is washed into the system.
They are more surface-oriented than gizzard shad, and frequently move in huge schools just under the surface, sometimes migrating for miles each day.
[center]
Threadfin Shad
[center]Dorosoma Petenense
[ul][li]
[left]Coloration:
Back dark gray to bluish black; sides and abdomen silvery
[li]
[left]Mouth:
Bottom lip protruding; bottom of mouth cavity with black spots
Top jaw stops in front of eye margin
[li]
[left]Body:
Deep, strongly compressed laterally. Average length less than 4inches. Scales cycloid, deciduous. Lateral line lacking. Median lateral series of scales 40-48. Ridge of sawlike ventral scutes on abdomen. Dorsal Fin filament: long, reaches almost to caudal.
[li]
[left]Biology and Spawning:
Usually congregating in large schools over deep water in daylight hours, moving to shallower water at night.
Sensitive to cool temperature, swimming ability decreases below 54 degrees.
Death occurs at 41degrees.
Threadfin shad spawn on the surface shortly after dawn along a weedy shoreline or in open water around rafts of driftwood and debris.
Adhesive eggs stick to leaves and branches of shoreline vegetation or floating debris until hatching occurs in 2-4 days.
Spawning begins when surface temperature at dawn exceeds 62 F and may continue until surface temperature exceeds 83 F.
Most spawning happens in May and June but a September spawn may occur when plankton forage conditions are ideal.
Females carry 900 to 21,000 eggs for spawning annually.
Seldom live beyond 2-3 years.
Distinct spot smaller than eye behind gill. Always present
Yellowish, except the dorsal; caudal deeper yellow.
Scale count: median series, 40-48
Fin ray counts: dorsal 14, anal 20-25,
[/li][/ul]
[left]
[left]
[center]
[left]Gizzard shad are omnivorous filter feeder taking both phytoplankton and zoo plankton. The adults have more than 400, fine gill rakers that can catch minute plankton. Gizzard Shad have an unusual digestion process for fish. The vegetable material they eat is ground in a gizzard like stomach. Some bottom material[/url] is often ingested while feeding.
[left]The Rapid growth of the Gizzard Shad means that largemouth and smallmouth bass are able to eat them for only a short time each spring. The Gizzard Shad spends most of its time in large schools cruising for food.
[left]
Habitat:[/url] [ul][li]
[left]The gizzard shad is a schooling fish found in lakes and impoundments. It also lives in the backwaters of sluggish rivers and the deep, slow pools of smaller streams. Gizzard shad become more abundant as eutrophication in a lake takes place – that is, as a lake gains fertility through natural aging or added pollutants.
Generally found in fresh water, gizzard shad can also live in the brackish water of tidal zones and estuaries. Unlike many other herrings, gizzard shad are nonmigratory and stay near their home areas. They are often found over a mucky bottom, which they filter when feeding.
[/li][li]
[left]Life history:[/url]The gizzard shad spawns in spring, May to June, when water temperatures reach the mid-60s to mid-70s.
Striped bass are the dominant predator for the large Gizzards and keep them under control so that young Largemouth bass and Large shad don't have to compete for the same limited planktonic food allowing the fingerling black bass to grow quicker.
Gizzard shad move upstream into shallower waters to spawn, but otherwise show no obvious spawning migration pattern.
Young gizzard shad School in quiet surface waters, bigger adults near bottom. Six week spawning period. Most spawn at age 2. Buoyant larvae become plankton. Life span 4-6 years, few live beyond age 3
[/li][li]
[left]Feeding Habits:[/url]Gizzard shad are filter feeders straining small organisms particularly from organic deposits. Adults have fine gill rakers to strain these minute plant plankton; the food is ground and digested in their gizzard-like stomach, hence the name.
[/li][/ul]
[ul][li]
[left]Coloration:[/url]Back silvery blue, somewhat iridescent; sides silvery above, whitish below; abdomen white.
Fins darkened.
Dark purplish spot about the size of the eye present immediately behind the upper end of the gill opening.
Spot becomes obsolete and disappears with age.
[li]
[left]Mouth: [/url]Small sub-terminal, slightly overhung by the rounded snout.
Centrally notched upper jaw protrudes slightly beyond lower jaw.
Upper jaw reaching below the front margin of the eye.
Gill rakers long, slender
[li]
[left]Body:[/url] Deep strongly compressed laterally.
Average length 8.5 -13.5 in.
Scales large, thin, rounded and smooth-edged , Falling off or shed at a specific season or stage of growth.
Lateral line lacking.
Median lateral series of scales 61 (52-70).
Ridge of sawlike scales close to the abdomen.
[li]
[left]Gizzard Shad [/url]differ from Threadfin Shad by:lower jaw shorter than upper jaw;
a much shorter dorsal fin filament;
absence of black pigment on the chin and floor of mouth; more than 17 midventral scutes in the prepelvic series;
more scales in the lateral series; more anal fin rays.
[li]
[left]Biology and Spawning: [/url] Spring when water temperatures reach the 60s, the gizzard shad spawn begins at night in shallow water. As early as age two they gather in large schools to broadcast their eggs and milt in shoreline shallows. Females produce up to 400,000 eggs that adhere to plant and rock substrate, the eggs hatching in two to three days. No nesting behavior or parental care is shown by adults. Growth is rapid – up to seven inches in the first year.Will school up as juveniles in quiet surface waters, adults near bottom.
Spawn at night in spring, in shallows.
Eggs randomly scattered adhere to plants, rocks or firm substrate.
Preferred Temps 66 -72 degrees F. Will start at 50 degrees
Six week spawning period.
Most spawn at age 2.
producing 22,000 to 400,000 eggs .
Incubation 2-4 days.
Buoyant larvae become plankton.
Life span 4-6 years, few live beyond age 3.
Adult die-offs common.
Adults bottom filter feeding from areas along shorelines.
Open water fish have mostly phytoplankton and sand for digestion.
Juveniles planktivorous.
Preferred temp is 72 -76 degrees F.
[/li][/ul]
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![[Image: 63715.JPG]](http://calfish.ucdavis.edu/files/63715.JPG)