About Blueback Herring
Blueback herring are gray green to blue green on top, which fades down their sides to a silver underbelly. Their body is laterally compressed with the midline of their belly being sharp and saw edged. Their tail fin is forked. Because of the difficulty in visually separating blueback herring from alewives, the two species are often lumped together and referred to as "river herring". Blueback herring can be distinguished from alewives by the facts that alewives have a larger eye and, if you were to cut each open, the body cavity in the blueback herring is black while the alewife's is pink gray. Pointed snout; small dorsal fin; lower jaw sloped upward; body not as deep as gizzard shad.