Atlantic Herring

ocean · fish · abundant

Massive living clouds. Atlantic herrings swim together in enormous schools so dense they can look like one giant creature moving through the water. Millions of them travel together across the northern Atlantic Ocean.

Medium-sized swimmers. An adult Atlantic herring grows to about 45 centimeters long, roughly the length of a ruler, and weighs up to 1.1 kilograms. That's small enough to fit in your hand but big enough to be an important food source for larger animals.

Tiny food hunters. Atlantic herrings eat copepods and krill, which are microscopic sea creatures, along with small fish. They filter feed by opening their mouths wide to catch thousands of these tiny meals from the water.

Hunted by giants. Seals, whales, cod, and other large fish hunt Atlantic herrings in the ocean. Being part of such huge schools actually helps herrings survive since predators can't eat everyone at once.

Super abundant species. Atlantic herrings are one of the most plentiful fish in the entire world. Their huge numbers make them incredibly important to ocean food chains and to fishing industries around the North Atlantic.