Alewife

The alewife or river herring is an anadromous species of herring found in North America. It is one of the "typical" North American shads, attributed to the subgenus Pomolobus of the genus Alosa.

Alewife is usually eaten smoked, though it's also sold fresh, salted, dried, or frozen. Much of the catch is used as bait for the spring lobster and crab fisheries in Maine.

The alewife is an anadromous herring of the northwest Atlantic, living in the ocean as an adult and running up coastal rivers and estuaries to spawn in fresh water each spring. Its range runs from Labrador down to South Carolina, and many landlocked populations live entirely in fresh water, including in the Great Lakes.