Adult Atlantic menhaden are strictly filter feeders, grazing on planktonic organisms. They can be observed swimming slowly in circles, in tightly packed schools, with their mouths wide open and their opercula (gill flaps) flaring. In lab experiments, they fed on small adult copepods as well as phytoplankton. Organisms smaller than 13-16 microns were not retained in the gills. Menhaden did not feed on large zooplankton (10 mm brine shrimp) in these experiments. The filtering process is purely mechanical; particles are not selected by size. These experiments showed that the filtering rate depended on mouth size, swimming speed, food particle concentration, and the mechanical efficiency of the gill rakers.

Growth occurs primarily during the warmer months. Fish as old as age 8 were fairly common during the 1950s and early 1960s, but in more recent years, fish older than age 6 have been rare. Older (age-6) fish reach an average length of 330 mm FL and a weight of 630 g, although growth varies from year to year and is inversely density-dependent. Growth rates appear to be accelerated during the first year when juvenile population size is low and are reduced when juvenile population size is high.

Adults migrate extensively along the entire United States East Coast. Following winter dispersal along the south Atlantic coast, adults begin migrating north in early spring, reaching as far north as the Gulf of Maine in June. Older and larger fish migrate farther than younger, smaller fish. The return southern migration occurs in late fall and early winter .