WoRMS taxon details
Brevoortia tyrannus (Latrobe, 1802)
158691 (urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:158691)
accepted
Species
Clupea carolinensis Gronow in Gray, 1854 · unaccepted (synonym)
Clupea menhaden Mitchill, 1814 · unaccepted
Clupea neglecta Rafinesque, 1818 · unaccepted
Clupea tyrannus Latrobe, 1802 · unaccepted
marine, brackish, fresh, terrestrial
(of Clupea tyrannus Latrobe, 1802) Latrobe, B. H. (1802) A drawing and description of the Clupea tyrannus and Oniscus praegustator. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 5: 77-81., available online at https://doi.org/10.2307/1004979
page(s): 77 [details]
page(s): 77 [details]
Distribution Nova Scotia southward to Indian River, Florida
Distribution Nova Scotia southward to Indian River, Florida [details]
Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. (2026). FishBase. Brevoortia tyrannus (Latrobe, 1802). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at: https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=158691 on 2026-07-09
The webpage text is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Nomenclature
original description
(of Clupea menhaden Mitchill, 1814) Mitchill, S. L. (1814). Report, in part, of Samuel L. Mitchill, M. D., Professor of Natural History, &c, on the fishes of New-York. <em>D. Carlisle, New York.</em> 1-28.
page(s): 21 [details]
original description (of Clupea neglecta Rafinesque, 1818) Rafinesque, C.S. (1818). Second decade of new North American fishes. <em>Am. Monthly Mag. Crit. Rev.</em> 2(3): 204-206.
page(s): 206 [details]
original description (of Clupea tyrannus Latrobe, 1802) Latrobe, B. H. (1802) A drawing and description of the Clupea tyrannus and Oniscus praegustator. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 5: 77-81., available online at https://doi.org/10.2307/1004979
page(s): 77 [details]
basis of record Scott, W.B.; Scott, M.G. (1988). Atlantic fishes of Canada. <em>Canadian Bulletin of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences.</em> No. 219. 731 pp. [details]
page(s): 21 [details]
original description (of Clupea neglecta Rafinesque, 1818) Rafinesque, C.S. (1818). Second decade of new North American fishes. <em>Am. Monthly Mag. Crit. Rev.</em> 2(3): 204-206.
page(s): 206 [details]
original description (of Clupea tyrannus Latrobe, 1802) Latrobe, B. H. (1802) A drawing and description of the Clupea tyrannus and Oniscus praegustator. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 5: 77-81., available online at https://doi.org/10.2307/1004979
page(s): 77 [details]
basis of record Scott, W.B.; Scott, M.G. (1988). Atlantic fishes of Canada. <em>Canadian Bulletin of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences.</em> No. 219. 731 pp. [details]
Ecology
ecology source
Looby, A.; Erbe, C.; Bravo, S.; Cox, K.; Davies, H. L.; Di Iorio, L.; Jézéquel, Y.; Juanes, F.; Martin, C. W.; Mooney, T. A.; Radford, C.; Reynolds, L. K.; Rice, A. N.; Riera, A.; Rountree, R.; Spriel, B.; Stanley, J.; Vela, S.; Parsons, M. J. G. (2023). Global inventory of species categorized by known underwater sonifery. <em>Scientific Data.</em> 10(1). (look up in IMIS), available online at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-02745-4 [details] 
Other
additional source
Smith, J.W. 1999. Distribution of Atlantic menhaden, Brevoortia tyrannus, purse- seine sets and catches from southern New England to North Carolina, 1985- 96. NOAA Technical Reports NMFS 144. 22 p. (look up in IMIS) [details]
additional source Froese, R. & D. Pauly (Editors). (2026). FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. version (04/2025)., available online at https://www.fishbase.org [details]
additional source Froese, R. & D. Pauly (Editors). (2026). FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. version (04/2025)., available online at https://www.fishbase.org [details]
Present Present in aphia/obis/gbif/idigbio Inaccurate Introduced: alien Containing type locality
Unreviewed
Diet Feed on zooplankton and phytoplankton, especially diatoms and copepods [details]Distribution Nova Scotia southward to Indian River, Florida [details]
Habitat nektonic [details]
Habitat Found to depths of 20 m. Move from enclosed, coastal waters to deeper waters in winter. [details]
Importance Social- Highly commercial [details]
Predators Pollock, seabirds, whales and porpoises [details]
Reproduction Spawn throughout the year, external fertilization; nursery areas in estuaries [details]
| Language | Name | |
|---|---|---|
| Dutch | shadineoceaanforelAmerikaanse sardine | [details] |
| English | mossbunkerbug fishAtlantic menhaden | [details] |
| French | alose tyran | [details] |
To Barcode of Life (43 barcodes)
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (13 publications) (from synonym Clupea carolinensis Gronow in Gray, 1854)
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (258 publications)
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (49 publications) (from synonym Clupea menhaden Mitchill, 1814)
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (50 publications) (from synonym Clupea tyrannus Latrobe, 1802)
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (9 publications) (from synonym Clupea neglecta Rafinesque, 1818)
To European Nucleotide Archive, ENA (Brevoortia tyrannus)
To FAO Species fact sheets
To FishBase
To FishBase (from synonym Clupea tyrannus Latrobe, 1802)
To FishBase (from synonym Clupea neglecta Rafinesque, 1818)
To FishBase (from synonym Clupea menhaden Mitchill, 1814)
To FishBase (from synonym Clupea carolinensis Gronow in Gray, 1854)
To FishSounds
To GenBank (516 nucleotides; 372 proteins)
To GenBank (516 nucleotides; 372 proteins) (from synonym Clupea tyrannus Latrobe, 1802)
To Global Biotic Interactions (GloBI)
To IUCN Red List (Least Concern)
To NMNH Extant Collection (Brevoortia tyrannus RAD100500 thru RAD100502 Envelope)
To NMNH Extant Collection (Brevoortia tyrannus RAD100502-001)
To ITIS
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (13 publications) (from synonym Clupea carolinensis Gronow in Gray, 1854)
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (258 publications)
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (49 publications) (from synonym Clupea menhaden Mitchill, 1814)
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (50 publications) (from synonym Clupea tyrannus Latrobe, 1802)
To Biodiversity Heritage Library (9 publications) (from synonym Clupea neglecta Rafinesque, 1818)
To European Nucleotide Archive, ENA (Brevoortia tyrannus)
To FAO Species fact sheets
To FishBase
To FishBase (from synonym Clupea tyrannus Latrobe, 1802)
To FishBase (from synonym Clupea neglecta Rafinesque, 1818)
To FishBase (from synonym Clupea menhaden Mitchill, 1814)
To FishBase (from synonym Clupea carolinensis Gronow in Gray, 1854)
To FishSounds
To GenBank (516 nucleotides; 372 proteins)
To GenBank (516 nucleotides; 372 proteins) (from synonym Clupea tyrannus Latrobe, 1802)
To Global Biotic Interactions (GloBI)
To IUCN Red List (Least Concern)
To NMNH Extant Collection (Brevoortia tyrannus RAD100500 thru RAD100502 Envelope)
To NMNH Extant Collection (Brevoortia tyrannus RAD100502-001)
To ITIS
Unreviewed
Hosted externally
Hosted externally
