Biology and Fishery for Atlantic Thread Herring, Opisthonema oglinum, along the North Carolina Coast

Thread herrings, Opisthonema spp., are small, nearshore, pelagic clupeid fishes that form dense, surface schools in tropical to subtropical coastal waters. Ecologically, thread herrings form an important forage base for many large, predatory fishes (Finucane and Vaught, 1986). Commercially, thread herrings are targeted by artisanal to moderate-sized seine fisheries off the coasts of Ecuador and Peru (Patterson and Santos, 1992), Costa Rica (Stevenson and Carranza, 1981), Venezuela, the continental margins of the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, and near the islands of Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Trinidad (Reintjes, 1978). Most of the catch is reduced to fish meal and fish oil (Patterson and Santos, 1992), although minor quantities are used for human consumption (Reintjes, 1978).