When it comes to herring, the first thing that comes to mind is probably canned herring (Swedish: Surströmming, meaning sour herring). This traditional food from Sweden, with its "rich" smell and "mellow" taste, has attracted countless brave gourmets to come and go, leaving one video after another on the Internet with "taste and taste". But as the protagonist of the can, herring is rarely noticed.
Canned herring (image from Wikipedia)
Strictly speaking, herrings is not a taxonomic term, it is composed of a variety of fish belonging to the clupeomorpha, Clupeiformes and Clupeidae. The appearance of most herring is very much in line with the public's perception of "fish" and looks ordinary.
Of course, for ichthyologists, there are still enough distinguishing features on herring to distinguish them from other taxa. Herring are medium in size, mostly 10–40 cm, covered with silver scales, with only one dorsal fin, and all fins have no fin spines (a sharp fin with defensive function). In addition, some species have ridged scales on the abdomen or back, which is a relatively strong serrated scale.
Atlantic herring (Image from FishBase)
Herring order has a large number of worldwide distribution of marine fish, they live in the continental sea, and occupy an important position in fishery production. For example, the Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus), which is used to make canned herring, can be called one of the most abundant fish species on Earth, providing a wealth of food resources for predators in the oceans and residents living along the North Atlantic coast.
Fishermen catching herring (image from Wikipedia)
The well-known sardine also belongs to the order Herring, a name that probably derives from the 15th-century Italian island of Sardinia, which was rich in fish production. According to FAO standards, there are currently 21 species of herring that can be called sardines, and they are often commonly used in cans. The taxonomic real sardines actually include only one species in the genus Sardina pilchardus of the herring family.
Canned sardines (Image from Wikipedia)
Knife fish, with delicate meat and delicious taste, is known as one of the four fresh foods of the Yangtze River, and has also left countless legends because of its expensive price. It belongs to another important branch of the order Herring order, the genus Coilia of the genus Engraulidae. Every spring, mature individuals enter the rivers for reproductive migration, forming a peak fishing season. However, due to overfishing and environmental pollution in recent years, the catch has been greatly reduced.
Long-jawed mackerel (Image from biotopfish.com)
Many members of the order Herring, although unremarkable in appearance, are closely related to human life. However, to fully understand the history of a class of organisms, it is not enough to study the living species, but also to take into account the extinct parts.
In addition to herring, herring also contains a completely extinct branch, the Ellimmichthyiformes, which were first found in the Early Cretaceous, many species of fish from the continental sea environment, and the post-Cretaceous species were produced in freshwater environments affected by seawater. In addition to having a strong band of scales on the abdomen, as with many modern herrings, they also have a row of scales between the dorsal fin and the head, so they are also known as double armored herrings. In fact, a few species of Herring herring, such as the Triplomystus of the Late Cretaceous in Lebanon, have a row of scales behind the dorsal fin.
Ellimmichthyiformes currently has at least 35 active species in 13 genera, widely distributed in South America, West Africa, North America, the Mediterranean coast and East Asia. Among them, Diplomystus shengliensis produced in the Eocene of China's Shengli Oilfield, because of its similarity with the same species of fish in the Green River Shale of North America in the same period, has become one of the most important evidences to support the "trans-Pacific distribution pattern" of the Eocene fish fauna, providing information for determining the era and sedimentary environment of the oil production layer of Shengli Oilfield in that year.
A. Diplomystus shengliensis from the Eocene Eocene shengliensis of Shengliystus in shengliystus of Shengli Oilfield on the Bohai Coast of China, most of the specimens were extracted from oilfield drilling cores; Produced in the Eocene Green River Formation' Diplomystus dentatus, paleontology enthusiasts must be familiar with it (Image from Grande, 1982)
Since all members of the order Elsam herring have been extinct, there have been many divergent studies on their internal taxonomic relationships and biogeographic history since the establishment of the order. Recently, the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology published online the results of international cooperation led by Wu Feixiang's team at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with the participation of geology colleagues from the University of Carthage and El Manar University in Tunisia, which has brought new progress to understanding the evolutionary history of Herring herring.
Hope Tunisian herring positive mold specimen (A) and bone restoration (B) (courtesy of Wu Feixiang)
Discovery of fossil sites in the Herring of Tunisia in the Chotts Basin in southern Tunisia (courtesy of Wu Feixiang)
The fossil material used in the institute was found in the Lower Cretaceous strata of the Chotts Basin in southern Tunisia and was named Tunisiaclupea speratus, belonging to the family Paramycea. It is the earliest fossil record of the Herring herring in the southern part of the Sittis Ocean (today's Mediterranean).
Relationship tree of the Herring herring system established according to the most comprehensive morphological matrix at present (courtesy of Wu Feixiang)
The Sittis Ocean region was once a key area in the evolutionary history of the Herring herring. Researchers believe that in the early Late Cretaceous, about 100 million years ago, the Herring herring reached its peak in the Sittis Ocean Region. This may be related to the rise in sea level at that time and the widespread intrusion of the ocean into the land. When the Sittis Ocean is connected by the surface sea that runs through the northern part of the African continent and the tropical region of the Atlantic Ocean, habitat expansion, warm current infusion, and food import increases, which promotes the migration and spread of their populations, and thus produces a high degree of diversity, which can be described as "the rise of the water and the abundance of fish".
After the Cretaceous Period, this group gradually declined, and its youngest record comes from the Oligocene of Ningming, Guangxi. It is noteworthy that after the Late Cretaceous, the Herring appears to have withdrawn from the Sittis (Mediterranean), while their close relatives herring remained.
Paleogeographic map of the Late Cretaceous Cenomanian period (Image by C R Scotese)
According to existing understandings, the earliest representatives of herring are distributed in South America, the Mediterranean, and East Asia (represented by the Zhejiang Early Cretaceous paramarolepian Paracralopea), and the biogeographic link between the former two has been supported by biological evidence. Between the Mediterranean Sea and East Asia, the vast area that once served as the Neo-Teti Ocean region, including West Asia, South Asia and even southern Tibet, has been a blank area in the fossil record of the Herring herring.
As the new fish name "Hope Tunisian Herring" implies, it is hoped that with the advancement of future scientific expeditions, the last piece of this "tangram" will eventually be completed, and our understanding of the herring and even the entire herring will be further enhanced.
Source: Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
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