---
title: "Alewife"
description: "Alosa pseudoharengus — Fish. The alewife or river herring (Alosa pseudoharengus; pl.: alewives) is a species of herring found in North America."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/alewife
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Alewife

> Alosa pseudoharengus — Fish. The alewife or river herring (Alosa pseudoharengus; pl.: alewives) is a species of herring found in North America.

- Scientific name: *Alosa pseudoharengus*
- Category: `fish` (Fish)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Lakes & rivers), `sea` (Sea & coast)
- iNaturalist observations: 2177
- Wikidata: [Q659283](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q659283)
- iNaturalist taxon: [51362](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/51362)

## Names

- en: Alewife
- de: Maifisch
- es: Alosa
- fr: Gaspereau
- nl: Amerikaanse rivierharing
- pl: Aloza tęczowa

## Countries with the most observations

US (1005), CA (605)

## Summary

The alewife or river herring (Alosa pseudoharengus; pl.: alewives) is a species of herring found in North America. It is commonly anadromous but there are also significant landlocked populations. It is one of the smaller species of shad, of the subgenus Pomolobus. As an adult it is a marine species found in the northern West Atlantic Ocean, moving into estuaries before swimming upstream to breed in freshwater habitats, but some populations live entirely in fresh water.
It is known for its colonization of the Great Lakes via the Welland Canal, bypassing Niagara Falls. There, its population peaked between the 1950s…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alewife_(fish)

## Photo

![Alewife](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/alewife/medium.jpg)

Photo: nickjeff13 · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/193226873

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/alewife?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).