menhaden Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun shad-like North American marine fishes used for fish meal and oil and fertilizer
    Brevoortia tyrannis.

WordNet

Men*ha"den noun
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) An American marine fish of the Herring familt (Brevoortia tyrannus), chiefly valuable for its oil and as a component of fertilizers; -- called also mossbunker, bony fish, chebog, pogy, hardhead, whitefish, etc.

Webster 1913