Herring
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| Image:Herringadultkils.jpg Atlantic Herring
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Clupea alba |
Herrings are small oily fish of the genus Clupea found in the temperate, shallow waters of the North Atlantic and the Baltic Sea.
There are 15 species of herring, the most abundant of which is the Atlantic herring, Clupea harengus. Herrings move in vast schools, coming in spring to the shores of Europe and America, where they are caught, salted and smoked in great quantities.
Canned "sardines" (or pilchards) seen in supermarkets may actually be sprats or round herrings.
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[edit] Morphology
All of the 200 species in the family Clupeidae share similar distinguishing features. They are silvery colored fish that have a single dorsal fin. Unlike most other fish, they have soft dorsal fins that lack spines, though some species have pointed scales that form a serrated keel. They have no lateral line and also have a protruding lower jaw somewhat like a bulldog's. Their overall size varies greatly from species to species: the Baltic herring is small, usually about 14 to 18 centimeters in length, the Atlantic herring can grow to about 18 inches in length and weigh up to 1.5 pounds (700 g) as compared to the Tropical Tarpon (Megalops atlanticus) which can grow to a length of 80 inches (approx 8 feet or 2.0 m) and weigh up to 200 pounds (90 kg).
[edit] Ecology
[edit] Economy
Environmental Defense suggests Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) to be the most Ecological choice for eating.
[edit] Diet
Herring feed on zooplankton, tiny animals that are found in the surface waters of the oceans. It is too dangerous for herring to feed at the surface during the day, as predators would spot them. During daylight the herring stay in the safety of the deep, dark water and only venture to the surface at night when there is less chance of being seen. They swim along with their mouths open, filtering the plankton from the water as it passes through their gills. Young herring feed on plant plankton and as they mature they start to consume larger organisms. Adult herring feed on crustaceans, fish eggs, and the larvae of fish and molluscs that are found among plankton.
[edit] Cuisine
Herring have been a staple food source, especially for northern Europeans, back to 3000 B.C. There are numerous ways the fish is served and many regional recipes: eaten raw, fermented, pickled, or cured by other techniques. The fish was sometimes known as two-eyed steak.
[edit] Nutrition
Herring are very high in healthy long-chain Omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA. They are a good source of vitamin D. They are also very low in the toxins PCBs, dioxins, and mercury.
[edit] Pickled herring
A very popular Scandinavian food item, pickled herring has been around for a long time. Most herring curing at home uses a two-step curing process. Initially, herring is cured with salt to extract water. The second stage involves removing the salt and adding flavorings, typically a vinegar/salt/sugar solution to which ingredients like peppercorn, bay leaves and raw onions are added.
Once the pickling process is finished and depending on which of the dozens of classic herring flavorings are selected, it is usually enjoyed with dark rye bread, crisp bread, or potatoes. This dish is a must at Christmas and Midsummer, where it is enjoyed with a schnapps.
In the middle ages the Dutch developed a special treat known in English as soused herring.
Pickled herrings are also common in Ashkenanzi Jewish cuisine, perhaps best known for forshmak salad known in English simply as "chopped herring".
[edit] Rollmops
- For more details on this topic, see Rollmops.
The word Rollmops, borrowed from Dutch , refers to a pickled herring fillet rolled (hence the name) into a cylindrical shape around a piece of pickled cucumber or an onion.
[edit] Fermented
In Sweden, Baltic herring is fermented to make surströmming.
[edit] Raw
Image:Herring roe.jpg A typical Dutch delicacy is raw herring (actually enzyme-cured) with raw shredded onions. To stop parasites, the herring has to be deep-frozen before the curing process.
Herring is also canned and exported by many countries. A sild is an immature herring that are canned as sardines in Norway.
Very young herring are called whitebait and are eaten whole as a delicacy.
[edit] Other means
A kipper is a split and smoked herring, and a bloater is a whole smoked herring. Both are staples of British cuisine. According to George Orwell in The Road to Wigan Pier, the Emperor Charles V erected a statue to the inventor of bloaters.
In Scandinavia, Herring soup is also a traditional soup.
[edit] Herring lore
Figuratively, a red herring is a false lead in a mystery. In this context, red means smoked, and a smoked herring has such a strong smell that it can be used to create a false scent that causes hunting dogs to lose a track.
See Atlantic herring for videos of feeding juvenile herring, catching copepods.
[edit] See also
- Underwater video (looping) of a school of Atlantic herring Clupea harengus on its migration to their spawning grounds in the Baltic Sea.
- Soused herring
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- clupea.net
- [1]
- [2]. This study won the Ig Nobel Prize in 2004.
- Atlantic Herring from the Gulf of Maine Research Institute
- TravelByFood.com pictures of Dutch Delicacy (raw herring from sidewalk vendors)
es:Clupea fr:Clupea fr:Hareng io:Haringo ja:ニシン nl:Haring (vis) no:Sild pt:Arenque simple:Herring fi:Silakka sv:Strömming
