Skip to content

Southern Fried Science

Over 15 years of ocean science and conservation online

  • Home
  • About SFS
  • Authors
  • Support SFS

Six reasons why Menhaden are the greatest fish we ever fished.

Posted on May 21, 2014May 24, 2014 By Andrew Thaler 2 Comments on Six reasons why Menhaden are the greatest fish we ever fished.
Science
Image from Maine Department of Marine Resources.
Image from Maine Department of Marine Resources.

Menhaden, Brevoortia tyrannus, is, without a doubt, the single most important fish in the western Atlantic. This oily filter-feeder swims in schools so large that they block the sun from penetrating the water’s surface as it regulates ocean health. Earlier this week, we were greeted by news that menhaden stocks were rebounded, yet despite their near-universal importance in the western Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, most Americans have near heard of a menhaden.

Let’s fix that. Here are six reasons you should know what a menhaden is.

1. Menhaden go by many names.

The Narragansett called them munnawhatteaug. Colonists called them poghaden, bony-fish, whitefish, pogy, mossbunker, fat-bat. Perhaps most endearingly, menhaden were called bug-heads, thanks to the parasitic isopod that was often found in place of their tongues. They have also been called “the most important fish in the sea“.

No matter what you call them, Atlantic menhaden, Brevoortia tyrannus, is the little morning tyrant, and they are magnificent.

2. The United States of America grew on the backs of menhaden.

The Narragansett word for menhaden, munnawhatteaug, translates as “that which fertilizes”. In the legend of Plymouth Colony, a local tribe taught those first settlers to plant a fish with their corn to make it grow stronger. That fish was a menhaden. For most of the history of the menhaden fishery, oil and fertilizer were the fish’s primary uses.

3. Menhaden are bigger than whales.

You could be forgiven if you thought that the American industrial revolution was powered by whale oil. The glossy lubricant was used primarily for lighting in pre-industrial America. By the time Herman Melville published Moby Dick, the golden age of whaling was already in decline. The Civil War was its death blow. Out of that conflict came the industrial menhaden industry. Seeing the vast wealth of the Chesapeake Bay, Northern industrialists headed south to exploit these rich, dense fish. Whale ships were converted and the mighty purse seine made its first appearance.

By 1880, half a billion menhaden were being rendered into oil and fertilizer. There were almost three times as many menhaden ships as whaling ship. A menhaden boat could produce more oil in a week than a whaling ship could during it’s entire, multi-year voyage, and it could do so close to shore and out of harms way.

4. The environmental movement and fisheries ecology rose from the first menhaden collapse. 

George Marshs’s Man and Nature, later retitled The Earth as Modified by Human Action, published in 1864, was the first major work to link the principles of naturalism with the rigor of ecology. Its publication mark the beginning of the modern environmental movement. In Extirpation of Aquatic Animals, he points to the decimation of menhaden as one of the key examples of our impact on the oceans.

In 1879, George Brown Goode released his monumental work, A History of the Menhaden, the first, and still one of the the most comprehensive, studies of an American fishery. In 1880, we were running out of menhaden. The schools that Goode had studied, primarily north of Cape Cod, were gone. Even today, the menhaden’s range is a fraction of what it once was. Yet we continue to fish for them, for one very compelling reason.

5. Menhaden are really, really good at making more Menhaden. 

An adult female menhaden can produce more than 300,000 eggs in a year. They become sexually mature after 2 years. If you look up fecund in a dictionary, you’ll see a picture of a menhaden. That fact alone is the reason that, even after a major fisheries collapse in 1880, they are still a viable fishery, though we have fallen from half a billion tons at its peaks to a measly 300,000 tons, today. This profound fecundity also means that, with reduced pressure, they still have a chance to recover.

6. Restoring menhaden to their historic levels may be the single most effective step we could take to save the ocean.

If the magical ocean management fairy came to me and said I could make one change to current fisheries policy, I would impose a ten-year moratorium on menhaden fishing. In addition to providing plentiful prey for other, commercially important species, menhaden regulate ocean ecosystems. They are the filters for the Gulf of Mexico and western Atlantic. When menhaden decline, phytoplankton blooms, causing hypoxic zones.

Quite simply, menhaden keep the water clean. The muddy brown color of the Long Island Sound and the growing dead zones in the Chesapeake Bay are the direct result of inadequate water filtration — a job that was once carried out by menhaden. An adult menhaden can rid four to six gallons of water of algae in a minute. Imagine then the water-cleaning capacity of the half-billion menhaden we “reduce” into oil every year.

Paul Greenberg, A Fish Oil Story


All info from The Most Important Fish in the Sea unless otherwise stated.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on Threads (Opens in new window) Threads
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp
  • Click to share on Mastodon (Opens in new window) Mastodon

Related

Tags: Menhaden

Post navigation

❮ Previous Post: Don’t build a new inter-ocean canal across Nicaragua
Next Post: Dawn take you all: Bilbo Baggins’ approach is better than “don’t feed the trolls” ❯

You may also like

Weekly Salvage
Meet me in Borneo, exploitation on the high seas, navy sonars, creature reports, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: March 12, 2018.
March 12, 2018
Conservation
PolitiFact calls claims of menhaden declines “Mostly False”, is completely wrong
December 17, 2012
Conservation
Managing the Menhaden of History
November 10, 2011
Weekly Salvage
One-eyed sea eagles, deep reefs, crispy jellyfish, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: August 7, 2017.
August 7, 2017

2 thoughts on “Six reasons why Menhaden are the greatest fish we ever fished.”

  1. MikeWAlker says:
    May 24, 2014 at 9:16 am

    EXCELLENT ARTICLE, Mike Walker, Adjunct Professor ofNatural Resources Law, William & Mary Law School.

  2. orestesshrugged says:
    May 24, 2014 at 8:51 pm

    This is the most informative, well-written article that I’ve read online in the last few years. If only this type of work was the standard for online journalism.

Comments are closed.

Recent Popular Posts

What Ocean Ramsey does is not shark science or conservation: some brief thoughts on "the Shark Whisperer" documentaryWhat Ocean Ramsey does is not shark science or conservation: some brief thoughts on "the Shark Whisperer" documentaryJuly 2, 2025David Shiffman
Considering writing a popular science book? Here's my adviceConsidering writing a popular science book? Here's my adviceJuly 7, 2025David Shiffman
Marine Biology Career AdviceMarine Biology Career AdviceMay 30, 2025David Shiffman
AuthorsOctober 27, 2013Administrator
Shark of Darkness: Wrath of Submarine is a fake documentaryShark of Darkness: Wrath of Submarine is a fake documentaryAugust 10, 2014Michelle Jewell
Please don't ride sharks, and other great tips from the new  guide to responsible shark divingPlease don't ride sharks, and other great tips from the new guide to responsible shark divingMarch 12, 2017David Shiffman
Donald Trump and Sharks: An Annotated TimelineDonald Trump and Sharks: An Annotated TimelineJune 27, 2024David Shiffman
What can the funniest shark memes on the internetz teach us about ocean science and conservation?What can the funniest shark memes on the internetz teach us about ocean science and conservation?November 8, 2013David Shiffman
What is a Sand Shark?What is a Sand Shark?November 12, 2017Chuck Bangley
About Southern Fried ScienceOctober 27, 2013Administrator
Subscribe to our RSS Feed for updates whenever new articles are published.

We recommend Feedly for RSS management. It's like Google Reader, except it still exists.

Southern Fried Science

  • Home
  • About SFS
  • Authors
  • Support SFS


If you enjoy Southern Fried Science, consider contributing to our Patreon campaign.

Copyright © 2025 Southern Fried Science.

Theme: Oceanly Premium by ScriptsTown