Copepods, the primary zooplankton, are a major item on the forage fish menu.
Other pelagic prey eaten by herrings includes fish eggs, larval snails, diatoms by herring larvae below 20mm, tintinnids by larvae below 45mm, molluscan larvae, menhaden larvae, krill, mysids, smaller fishes, pteropods, annelids, Calanus, Centropagidae and Meganyctiphanes norvegica.