ale-wife
Alosa pseudoharengus (Wilson, 1811)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The alewife or river herring (Alosa pseudoharengus; pl.: alewives) is a species of herring found in North America. It is commonly anadromous but there are also significant landlocked populations. It is one of the smaller species of shad, of the subgenus Pomolobus. As an adult it is a marine species found in the northern West Atlantic Ocean, moving into estuaries before swimming upstream to breed in freshwater habitats, but some populations live entirely in fresh water.
It is known for its colonization of the Great Lakes via the Welland Canal, bypassing Niagara Falls. There, its population peaked between the 1950s and 1980s to the detriment of many native species of fish. In an effort to control it biologically, Pacific salmon were introduced, only partially successfully. As a marine fish, the alewife is a US National Marine Fisheries Service "Species of Concern".
Wikipedia contributors, Alewife (fish); see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:30:22.507899+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Alosa pseudoharengus (Wilson, 1811)
- Name authority
- (Wilson, 1811)
- Common name
- ale-wife
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Clupeiformes
- Family
- Alosidae
- Genus
- Alosa
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: yes · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderClupeiformes
- suborderClupeoidei Bleeker, 1859
- familyAlosidae Svetovidov, 1952
- genusAlosa Linck, 1790
- speciesAlosa pseudoharengus (Wilson, 1811)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Alosa. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Black Sea shadAlosa maeotica (Grimm, 1901) | AlosidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| blueback herringAlosa aestivalis (Mitchill, 1814) | AlosidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Alosa agone (Scopoli, 1786) | AlosidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| allis shadAlosa alosa (Linnaeus, 1758) | AlosidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Alosa braschnikowi (Borodin, 1904) | AlosidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Caspian shadAlosa caspia (Eichwald, 1838) | AlosidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| skipjack herringAlosa chrysochloris (Rafinesque, 1820) | AlosidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Alosa curensis (Suvorov, 1907) | AlosidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| shadAlosa fallax (Lacepède, 1803) | AlosidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Alosa sphaerocephala (Berg, 1913) | AlosidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Alosa suworowi (Berg, 1913) | AlosidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Alosa vistonica Economidis & Sinis, 1986 | AlosidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Pomolobus pseudoharengus (Wilson, 1811) (Wilson, 1811) | synonym |
| Meletta venosa Valenciennes, 1847 Valenciennes, 1847 | synonym |
| Clupea pseudoharengus Wilson, 1811 Wilson, 1811 | synonym |
| Clupea megalops Rafinesque, 1818 Rafinesque, 1818 | synonym |
| Clupea parvula Mitchill, 1814 Mitchill, 1814 | synonym |
| Clupea vernalis Mitchill, 1815 Mitchill, 1815 | synonym |
| Clupea virescens DeKay, 1842 DeKay, 1842 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=158669 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:C5MR. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.