鲱科为辐鳍鱼纲鲱形目的其中一科。它包含多种世界各地主要的食用鱼，也有些被当作捕鱼所需的饵料鱼。

本科鱼类广泛分布在北纬70°至南纬60°间的海域。

Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family Clupeidae.

Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast. The most abundant and commercially important species belong to the genus Clupea, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea, as well as off the west coast of South America. Three species of Clupea are recognised, and provide about 90% of all herrings captured in fisheries. Most abundant of all is the Atlantic herring, providing over half of all herring capture. Fishes called herring are also found in India, in the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal.