A round-bodied, silver fish with a single dorsal fin, no lateral line, and a protruding lower jaw. Herring often swim in large shoals not far from coasts and are important food fish. Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus), Pacific herring (C. pallasii), and Araucarian herring (C. bentincki), family Clupeidae, account for about 90 per cent of all commercial catches, but many other species are known as herring.