Image ID 515223 Premium Services    American Shad (Alosa sapidissima) Hand-colored etching by Edward Donovan from his drawing From: E. Donovan, The Natural History of British Fishes: including scientific and general descriptions…. Vol. 3 of 5 (London, 1802–1808) NYPL, Rare Books Division

The American Shad, a large member of the herring family, is an abundant and valuable commercial fish of the New York region, prized not only for the female’s eggs, or roe, but also for the delicious flesh. Those found in the Hudson River average 20–23 inches long, and weigh 5 to 6 pounds. Shad are anadromous, meaning that they spend most of their life in salt water, but spawn upstream in fresh water in the river where they hatched. Unlike Pacific salmon, who die after spawning, many Shad return to the ocean, to breed again in the Hudson in subsequent years. The hatchlings swim downstream in the fall, and grow to maturity in the ocean.

Edward Donovan’s (1768–1837) enormous collection of natural history specimens provided many of the models for the animal portraits in his books on fishes, insects, and birds.