The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™
ISSN 2307-8235 (online)
IUCN 2008: T82626288A15603445
Etrumeus sadina
Assessment by: Munroe, T., Aiken, K.A., Brown, J. & Grijalba Bendeck, L.
View on www.iucnredlist.org
Citation: Munroe, T., Aiken, K.A., Brown, J. & Grijalba Bendeck, L. 2015. Etrumeus sadina. The IUCN
Red List of Threatened Species 2015: e.T82626288A15603445.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T82626288A15603445.en
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THE IUCN RED LIST OF THREATENED SPECIES™
Taxonomy
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Animalia
Chordata
Actinopterygii
Clupeiformes
Clupeidae
Taxon Name: Etrumeus sadina (Mitchill, 1814)
Synonym(s):
• Alosa teres DeKay, 1842
• Clupea sadina Mitchill, 1814
• Etrumeus teres (DeKay, 1842)
Taxonomic Source(s):
Eschmeyer, W.N. (ed.). 2015. Catalog of Fishes. Updated 3 August 2015. Available at:
http://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/ichthyology/catalog/fishcatmain.asp. (Accessed: 3
August 2015).
Taxonomic Notes:
This nominal species, Etrumeus teres (DeKay 1842), was described based on specimens collected off
New York. Whitehead (1985) included all populations of round herrings that were identified as this
species in a single species, which was thought to be globally distributed. However, in a recent
taxonomic revision (Randall and DiBattista 2012), this nominal species, Etrumeus teres (sensu
Whitehead 1985) was split into four distinct species: E. makiawa Randall and DiBattista 2012, restricted
to the Hawaiian Islands; E. micropus (Temminck and Schlegel 1846), from Japan, and perhaps south to
Indonesia; E. acuminatus Gilbert 1890 from the eastern tropical Pacific; and E. sadina (Mitchill 1814)
from the northwestern Atlantic (with Etrumeus teres (DeKay 1842) as a junior synonym).
Assessment Information
Red List Category & Criteria:
Least Concern ver 3.1
Year Published:
2015
Date Assessed:
August 23, 2012
Justification:
This pelagic, schooling species is widely distributed in the northwestern Atlantic. It is common and
locally abundant, typically occurring in offshore waters over the shelf and slope. It is exploited in parts of
its range, but this is not considered a major threat to its global population. Therefore, it is listed as Least
Concern.
Geographic Range
Range Description:
Etrumeus sadina is restricted to the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, where it is found from Nova Scotia,
Canada south along the U.S. coast throughout the Gulf of Mexico, and along the South American coast
from Caribbean Colombia to French Guiana (R. Robertson pers. comm. 2014).
© The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Etrumeus sadina – published in 2015.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T82626288A15603445.en
1
Gulf of Mexico
This species is found in deeper coastal waters, in pelagic areas along continental shelves and slopes,
along both coasts of Florida to Texas (Kells and Carpenter 2011). Although its distribution in not well
documented along the northern Mexican coast (known from a single capture location off southern
Campeche Bank: R. Robertson pers. comm. 2014), this species is taken in mixed catches of sardines in
this region (SAGARPA 2012).
Country Occurrence:
Native: Aruba; Australia; Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba; Canada; Colombia; Curaçao; Ecuador; Egypt;
French Guiana; Guyana; Japan; Kenya; Mexico; Mozambique; Peru; Saudi Arabia; Somalia; South Africa;
Sudan; Suriname; Tanzania, United Republic of; Trinidad and Tobago; United States; Venezuela,
Bolivarian Republic of; Yemen
FAO Marine Fishing Areas:
Native: Atlantic - western central, Atlantic - northwest, Indian Ocean - western, Indian Ocean - eastern,
Pacific - northwest, Pacific - southeast, Pacific - eastern central
© The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Etrumeus sadina – published in 2015.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T82626288A15603445.en
2
Distribution Map
© The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Etrumeus sadina – published in 2015.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T82626288A15603445.en
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Population
This species can be common and locally abundant, usually occurring in large schools. Species-specific
catch statistics are not available. An evaluation of the fishery potential of round herring resources in the
eastern Gulf of Mexico estimated stocks at 3.3 x 10^4 - 4.2 x 10^5 mt (Houde 1977). For the entire Gulf
of Mexico, estimates (Reintjes 1980) range from 1.1 x 10^5 - 1.1 x 10^6. Bullis et al. (1971) reported a
mixed school of rough herring and Spanish sardine west of Tampa, Florida, that was estimated to be 80
km long, 16 km wide, and about 3.7 m thick.
Current Population Trend: Unknown
Habitat and Ecology (see Appendix for additional information)
This pelagic species is rarely taken inshore, as it usually occurs in deeper waters over the continental
shelf and slope. In the southern parts of its range, it does not occur in nearshore or estuarine habitats;
in the southern Caribbean Sea, the majority of round herring are landed deeper than 60 m. It is a
diurnal vertical migrator, occurring in surface waters at night and between 9 to 37 m off the bottom
during the day. Seasonal shift in depth distribution may also occur with fish moving offshore (56 to 183
m) during summer and autumn and inshore during winter and spring. It often occurs in dense mixed
schools (including Spanish sardine, rough scad and chub makerel: Bullis et al. 1971, Crawford 1981) and
feeds mainly on euphausiids and copepods (Whitehead and Rodriguez-Sanchez 1995). It spawns
planktonic eggs and larvae (Chen 1992). Spawning occurs at night along the inner continental shelf from
mid-October through the end of May in the Gulf of Mexico between the 30 and 200 m isobath (Houde
1977). One major spawning area in the Gulf is located about 150 km west-southwest of Tampa Bay,
Florida, with another minor area located just north of the Dry Tortugas (Houde 1977). Off Texas and
Louisiana, round herring spawned in areas from 50 - 200 km offshore, and may also have spawned in
habitats at the edge of the continental shelf (Fore 1971). High concentrations of round-herring larvae
were found on the outer shelf (depths 40 - 182 m) and near the shelf break during sampling off the
Mississippi Delta region (Shaw and Drullinger 1990). The estimated fecundity is 7,446 to 19,699 eggs
(Houde 1977).
Systems: Marine
Use and Trade
In the Caribbean, there are only sparse catches, but larger catches are made farther north. Separate
species-specific statistics are not reported. It is caught mainly with boat seines and purse seines and is
taken as bycatch in the industrial shrimp trawl fishery. It is marketed fresh, and probably also reduced
to fish meal together with other clupeid fishes (Munroe and Nizinski 2002). It is also used as bait in
sport fisheries.
Threats
It is exploited in parts of its range, but the levels of exploitation are not considered to be a major threat
to its global population. The level of exploitation in the Gulf of Mexico is unknown; however, off Mexico,
this species is taken as bycatch in fisheries targeting sardines (SAGARPA 2012).
Conservation Actions (see Appendix for additional information)
© The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Etrumeus sadina – published in 2015.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T82626288A15603445.en
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There are no species-specific conservation measures. Further research is needed on population
structure, abundance and fishery exploitation levels.
Credits
Assessor(s):
Munroe, T., Aiken, K.A., Brown, J. & Grijalba Bendeck, L.
Reviewer(s):
Cox, N.A.
Facilitators(s) and
Compiler(s):
Harwell, H.
© The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Etrumeus sadina – published in 2015.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T82626288A15603445.en
5
Bibliography
IUCN. 2015. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2015-4. Available at: www.iucnredlist.org.
(Accessed: 19 November 2015).
Kells, V. and Carpenter, K.E. 2011. A Field Guide to Coastal Fishes - From Maine to Texas. John Hopkins
University Press, Baltimore, MD.
Osman, A.G., Akel, E.S.H., Farrag, M., and Moustafa, M.A. 2011. Reproductive Biology of Round Herring
Etrumeus teres (Dekay, 1842) from the Egyptian Mediterranean Water at Alexandria. ISRN Zoology.
Plaza, G., Sakaji, H., Honda, H., Hirota, Y. and Nashida, K. 2007. Spawning pattern and type of fecundity
in relation to ovarian allometry in the round herring Etrumeus teres. Marine Biology 152: 1051-1064.
Secretaria de Agricultura, Granaderia, Desarrollo rural, Pesca y Alimentacion. 2012. Acuerdo por el que
se da a conocer la actualización de la Carta Nacional Pesquera. Diario Oficial - Segunda Sección. 21.
Citation
Munroe, T., Aiken, K.A., Brown, J. & Grijalba Bendeck, L. 2015. Etrumeus sadina. The IUCN Red List of
Threatened Species 2015: e.T82626288A15603445. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.20154.RLTS.T82626288A15603445.en
Disclaimer
To make use of this information, please check the Terms of Use.
External Resources
For Images and External Links to Additional Information, please see the Red List website.
© The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Etrumeus sadina – published in 2015.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T82626288A15603445.en
6
Appendix
Habitats
(http://www.iucnredlist.org/technical-documents/classification-schemes)
Habitat
Season
Suitability
Major
Importance?
10. Marine Oceanic -> 10.1. Marine Oceanic - Epipelagic (0-200m)
Resident
Suitable
-
10. Marine Oceanic -> 10.2. Marine Oceanic - Mesopelagic (200-1000m)
Resident
Suitable
-
Conservation Actions in Place
(http://www.iucnredlist.org/technical-documents/classification-schemes)
Conservation Actions in Place
In-Place Land/Water Protection and Management
Conservation sites identified: No
Occur in at least one PA: Unknown
Research Needed
(http://www.iucnredlist.org/technical-documents/classification-schemes)
Research Needed
1. Research -> 1.2. Population size, distribution & trends
Additional Data Fields
Distribution
Lower depth limit (m): 200
Upper depth limit (m): 0
© The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Etrumeus sadina – published in 2015.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T82626288A15603445.en
7
The IUCN Red List Partnership
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ is produced and managed by the IUCN Global Species
Programme, the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) and The IUCN Red List Partnership.
The IUCN Red List Partners are: BirdLife International; Botanic Gardens Conservation International;
Conservation International; Microsoft; NatureServe; Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Sapienza University of
Rome; Texas A&M University; Wildscreen; and Zoological Society of London.
THE IUCN RED LIST OF THREATENED SPECIES™