Hickory shad Hickory shad Hickory shad ("Alosa mediocris") is a member of the herring family Clupeidae, ranging along the East Coast of the United States from Florida to the Gulf of Maine. It is an anadromous fish species, meaning that it spawns in freshwater portions of rivers but spends most of its life at sea. It is subject to fishing, both historic and current, but it is often confused with or simply grouped together with catch statistics for American shad ("Alosa sapidissima"). Hickory shad ranges from northern Florida to the Gulf of Maine. The largest populations occur in Chesapeake Bay and coastal
American herring gull American herring gull The American herring gull or Smithsonian gull ("Larus smithsonianus" or "Larus argentatus smithsonianus") is a large gull that breeds in North America, where it is treated by the American Ornithologists' Union as a subspecies of herring gull ("L. argentatus"). Adults are white with gray back and wings, black wingtips with white spots, and pink legs. Immature birds are gray-brown and are darker and more uniform than European herring gulls, with a darker tail. It occurs in a variety of habitats including coasts, lakes, rivers and garbage dumps. Its broad diet includes invertebrates, fish, and many other items.