Shad

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About Shad
Shad is a handsome fish, with a metallic blue-green back that lightens to silver along the sides and has a black spot at the shoulder, with several smaller spots trailing behind. Its scientific name is Alosa sapidissima and is member of Culpidae family. Shad fish spend most of their lives in sea and only enter in freshwaters in which they were born to spawn. Shad eggs mature quickly and hatch within four to twelve days. This fish survives by feeding itself with copepods and insects or insect’s larvae. They are soft, elongated fish without sharp spines, but with a distinctive long threadlike last dorsal fin ray observed on the back of the fish. The scales on this fish species are small and come off easily, but they have a bluish gray back and greenish or silver tinge overall. Shad have a blunt snout with the lower jaw set behind the upper jaw. Shad have a distinct advantage over other fish species because of their ability to filter large amounts of water through long, closely set gill racers. Shad also crop for algae and small insects over logs and other underwater plants, but their main way of feeding is simply swimming and pumping water through their mouths and out their gills.