Hilsa shad
Fish · Last reviewed 2026-08-25
The anadromous shad of the Bay of Bengal — the national fish of Bangladesh, and among the most economically important fish in South Asia.
Some fish are important for reasons that have nothing to do with sport. Hilsa is the national fish of Bangladesh, the centre of one of the largest single-species fisheries in South Asia, and a fish around which a substantial part of Bengali food culture is organised — and it is barely mentioned in English-language angling writing.
It is an anadromous clupeid: it lives at sea and runs far up rivers to spawn, historically more than a thousand kilometres up the Ganges. FishBase records it to 60 cm and 0.68 kg and an age of five years, in marine, brackish and fresh water from Madagascar and the Persian Gulf east to Vietnam. Its family placement has recently moved — FishBase now places it in Dorosomatidae rather than Clupeidae, following the reorganisation of the gizzard shads and sardinellas.
It is a filter feeder, taking plankton and fine organic material, which is why the fishery for it is a net fishery and why it is not an ordinary rod-and-line target. Where anglers do catch it, it is on very small baits, tiny flies and small spinners in river reaches during the run, and it fights well for its size in the way all the shads do.
What is worth knowing about it beyond the plate is that its runs are a barometer. Hilsa migrations depend on river flow, and the fishery has responded sharply to barrages, abstraction and pollution on the rivers it uses. A fish that runs a thousand kilometres upriver tells you about the whole river, which is a reason for a fishing catalogue to carry it even where nobody is casting at one.
Identification
No photograph of Hilsa shad has passed identity review yet, so none is shown. FishingHQ publishes a species photograph only once somebody has confirmed the animal in it against the species record’s own diagnostic features.
- Scientific name
- Tenualosa ilisha
- Family
- Dorosomatidae
- Water
- Saltwater, Brackish, Freshwater, Moves between fresh and salt water
- Conservation status
- Least Concern
- Regions
- South Asia, South-East Asia, Indo-Pacific, East & Southern Africa
- A classic shad outline: deep, laterally compressed, bright silver with a bluish-green back and a sharply keeled, saw-edged belly.
- A dark blotch behind the gill cover, sometimes followed by a row of fainter spots along the flank.
- No teeth worth the name — it is a filter feeder, and the mouth reflects that.
- Deeply forked tail and a single short dorsal fin set at the midpoint of the back.
- FishBase records a maximum of 60 cm and 0.68 kg, and an age of 5 years.
Size
- Typical
- 300–600 g (11 oz–1.3 lb)
- Large
- 800 g–1 kg (1.8–2.2 lb)
Exceptional: FishBase records a maximum of 60 cm and 0.68 kg, and an age of 5 years
Lifecycle and reproduction
Anadromous and pelagic-neritic to about 200 m: it lives at sea and runs into and far up rivers to spawn, historically more than a thousand kilometres up the Ganges system. Medium resilience and a short life of about five years, which is what allows a fishery of this scale to exist at all.
Anadromous spawning in fresh water, with the runs timed to river flow. That dependence on flow is the whole of the species' vulnerability: barrages, abstraction and altered hydrology change where and whether it can spawn, and the fishery has tracked those changes closely enough to serve as an indicator of river condition.
Feeding and senses
A filter feeder on plankton and fine organic material, taken from the water column with gill rakers rather than hunted. That is why the fishery for it is a net fishery, and why an angler fishing conventional baits for it will not do well.
Shoaling and filter feeding rather than hunting, so it is not keyed to individual prey items in the way a predator is. Where anglers do take it, small bright flies and tiny spinners work by provoking a reflex strike rather than by imitating food.
Through the year
Strongly seasonal, and the season is the RUN. Fish move from the sea into the estuaries and up the rivers to spawn on a schedule governed by river flow and the monsoon, and the whole fishery — commercial and recreational — is organised around it. Closed seasons protecting the run are used in several jurisdictions.
Distribution
Indo-West Pacific: Madagascar and Persian Gulf, east to Vietnam
This is a biological range — where the species occurs, not a prediction that you will catch one. To browse the fishing geography FishingHQ holds, start at fishing places.
Why anglers care
One of the most economically and culturally significant fish in South Asia and the national fish of Bangladesh, at the centre of an enormous net fishery. As a rod target it is a minor and localised one, taken on very small flies, tiny spinners and small baits in river reaches during the run, and it fights hard for its size as the shads do. Its significance to an angler is mostly that it is worth knowing about: a fish this important to a region's food and its rivers is one to understand rather than one to cast at.
Handling and returning
A soft-scaled, delicate, easily damaged fish that loses scales at a touch and spoils quickly in heat. Handle with wet hands and minimally; anything being kept should be cooled at once. Note that closed seasons protecting the spawning run are in force in parts of its range, and the relevant fisheries authority is who to ask.
Where to go next
Similar and related fish
Where it lives
More fish
Not related to this page — just the rest of the section. There is little else joined to this subject yet, and a short page should still lead somewhere.
Sources and evidence
- FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Family, maximum size, depth range, environment, distribution and the IUCN assessment for Tenualosa ilisha. FishBase places Tenualosa in Dorosomatidae rather than Clupeidae, following the reorganisation of the gizzard shads and sardinellas.States this directlyPassage read and verified
- The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature (Conservation authority)Relied on for: The Least Concern assessment for Tenualosa ilisha, assessed 23 January 2013.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- FAO Species Identification Guides for Fishery Purposes and the FAO Species Catalogues — Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Identification, distribution, habitat and fishery description from the FAO species identification guides for fishery purposes.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Why the 2 connections on this page are here, and the sources
Similar and related fish
Backed by research — 1 connection
Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.
Allis shad
Tenualosa ilisha runs the Ganges system and reaches 60 cm; Alosa alosa runs the rivers of western Europe. Both are anadromous, filter-feeding, keeled-bellied clupeiform fish whose fisheries have tracked what has been done to their rivers, and FishBase now places them in different families.
- FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: The morphology, size, depth range and distribution that separate these two species from one another.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Where it lives
Backed by research — 1 connection
Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.
Estuary
Recorded as anadromous and pelagic-neritic in marine, brackish and fresh water from Madagascar and the Persian Gulf east to Vietnam, running from the sea far up rivers to spawn.
- FishBase: a global information system on fishes — Froese, R. and D. Pauly, eds. — FishBase Consortium (Scientific institute)Relied on for: Environment, depth range, habitat association and distribution for Tenualosa ilisha.States this directlyPassage read and verified
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