Alosa sapidissima
(Wilson, 1811) · speciesAt a glance
Sources14 archives
Databases and archives Alosa sapidissima's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation11 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility13 611 records↗
OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System14 856 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI274 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics87 specimens↗
FooDBThe Metabolomics Innovation Centrecompounds↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinegenome & karyotype↗
Paleobiology DatabasePBDB consortiumfossil record↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
The American shad (Alosa sapidissima) is a species of anadromous clupeid fish naturally distributed on the North American coast of the North Atlantic, from Newfoundland to Florida, and as an introduced species on the North Pacific coast. The American shad is not closely related to the other North American shads. Rather, it seems to form a lineage that diverged from a common ancestor of the European taxa before these diversified.Faria, R.; Weiss, S. & Alexandrino, P. (2006): A molecular phylogenetic perspective on the evolutionary history of Alosa spp. (Clupeidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40(1): 298–304. The American shad has been described as "the fish that fed the (American) nation's founders". Adult shad weigh between 3 and, and they have a delicate flavor when cooked."Grass Shad-another Fine Bait- Southeastern King Mackerel Club – King Mackerel Fishing in Southeastern North Carolina." Southeastern King Mackerel Club – King Mackerel Fishing in Southeastern North Carolina-. Web. 15 Dec. 2011. <http://southeasternkingmackerelclub.com/grass-shad-another-fine-bait/ >. It is considered flavorful enough to not require sauces, herbs, or spices. It can be boiled, filleted and fried in butter, or baked. Traditionally, a little vinegar is sprinkled over it on the plate. In the Eastern United States, roe shads (females) are prized because the eggs are considered a delicacy. The name "shad" derives from the Old English sceadd, meaning "herring"; it is a cognate to Irish, Welsh, and Scottish Gaelic words for herring.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology2
Life cycle & reproduction3
Habitat & environment4
Uses & economy1
Other traits3
Compounds documented for Alosa sapidissima across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
Compound class profile5 classes
Documented compounds54 total
| Compound | Class | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| L-Glutamic acid | 3,240 mg/100g | FooDB | |
| L-Aspartic acid | 2,223 mg/100g | FooDB | |
| epsilon-Polylysine | 1,993 mg/100g | FooDB | |
| L-Leucine | 1,764 mg/100g | FooDB | |
| Doconexent | 1,321 mg/100g | FooDB | |
| L-Alanine | 1,313 mg/100g | FooDB |
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Alosa sapidissima has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
The complete instruction manual Alosa sapidissima carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
Sequencing statusassembly quality — how far to trust these numbers
Assembly level tells you how finished the sequence is — from fragmented contigs, through scaffolds, up to a full chromosome-level assembly. BUSCO % estimates completeness: the share of genes expected to be present that were actually found. These describe the data quality, not the organism.
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The solid bar is the fossil range: the span between the oldest and the youngest fossil that palaeontologists have assigned to Alosa sapidissima. Above itBeside it, each dot is one dated fossil find — few enough to count, so they are drawn individually rather than as a graph. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
The two clocks disagree here. The fossil record reaches back to 5.33 Ma, but the molecular clock dates the lineage to only 0.18 Ma — about 5.16 Myr younger. A fossil cannot be older than the lineage it belongs to, so one of the two is off: either the fossil is assigned to the wrong species, or the clock is running fast.
How it livedPBDB
Record type28 469 records
Origin
Range
Depth
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions13 of 33 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| North Carolina Museum of Natural Scienceslocation not on record | 283 |
| Washington, US | 133 |
| Toronto, CA | 68 |
| Cambridge, US | 54 |
| Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record | 45 |
| Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record | 30 |
| CASlocation not on record | 28 |
| New Haven, US | 23 |
| UWFClocation not on record | 19 |
| Ohio State University - Fish Division, Columbus, OH (OSUM)location not on record | 16 |
| Oregon State Universitylocation not on record | 14 |
| The Atlantic reference Centrelocation not on record | 11 |
| Ann Arbor, US | 10 |
| University of California San Diegolocation not on record | 9 |
| Chicago, US | 6 |
| University of Washington, Fish Collectionlocation not on record | 6 |
| Los Angeles, US | 6 |
| Montgomery, US | 5 |
| Vancouver, CA | 4 |
| University of Victorialocation not on record | 4 |
| The Atlantic Reference Centre (ARC)location not on record | 4 |
| FishBaselocation not on record | 3 |
| University of Minnesota, James Ford Bell Museum of Natural Historylocation not on record | 3 |
| Wuzhou, CN | 3 |
| Zoologisches Museum Hamburglocation not on record | 3 |
| Champaign, US | 3 |
| Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collectionlocation not on record | 2 |
| University of Alabamalocation not on record | 2 |
| Edmonton, CA | 2 |
| Maurice Lamontagne Institutelocation not on record | 2 |
| University of Alberta Museumslocation not on record | 1 |
| South Kensington, GB | 1 |
| Hakai Institutelocation not on record | 1 |
Where the DNA of Alosa sapidissima was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.