Pacific rainbow smelt

Pacific rainbow smelt
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Osmeriformes
Family: Osmeridae
Genus: Osmerus
Species:
O. dentex
Binomial name
Osmerus dentex
Steindachner & Kner, 1870

The Pacific rainbow smelt (Osmerus dentex), also known as the Arctic rainbow smelt or cucumber fish in Japan,[citation needed] is a North Pacific species of fish of the family Osmeridae. The fish usually lives in marine and brackish environment, with a wide distribution from North Korea, Sea of Okhotsk to Bering Sea and British Columbia.[2] They are also seen in estuaries and coastal waters of European and Siberian shores of Arctic Ocean from White Sea to Chukota in Russian Far East.[3]

Description

The Pacific rainbow smelt has a cylindrical elongated body shape, with lengths ranging between 14 and 16 centimetres (5.5 and 6.3 in).[4] The body color is mostly silver. They usually prey on plankton and squid.[3]

Life cycle

Pacific rainbow smelt usually return to their natal streams to spawn when the water temperature reaches 2 degree Celsius and above, but the degree of homing varies from one population to another and may be genetically controlled.[5] Movement to spawning grounds are usually made at night when the spawning group crowd together and move upstream.[6] The whole spawning usually lasts several hours each night for several nights.[7] Many spawned-out fish, especially males, die after spawning, but those that survive would spawn again in the following year.[8]

References

  1. ^ Freyhof, J.; Ford, M. (2024). "Osmerus dentex". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2024: e.T135660A135109718. Retrieved 23 December 2024.
  2. ^ Allen, M., James (April 1988). Atlas and zoogeography of common fishes in the Bering Sea and Northeastern Pacific. The United States of America: National Marine Fisheries Service. p. 151. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  3. ^ a b Kottelat, Maurice; Freyhof, Jörg (2007). Handbook of european freshwater fishes. Cornol: Publications Kottelat. p. 6466. ISBN 978-2-8399-0298-4. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  4. ^ Katalog morskich i presnovodnych ryb severnoj časti Ochotskogo morja. Vladivostok: Dalʹnauka. 2003. p. 204. ISBN 5-8044-0308-7. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  5. ^ Rupp, Robert S.; Redmond, Malcolm A. (March 1966). "Transfer Studies of Ecologic and Genetic Variation in the American Smelt". Ecology. 47 (2): 253–259. Bibcode:1966Ecol...47..253R. doi:10.2307/1933772. JSTOR 1933772. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  6. ^ Bailly, Nicolas (2017). "Osmerus dentex Steindachner & Kner, 1870". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  7. ^ Rupp, Robert S. (April 1965). "Shore-Spawning and Survival of Eggs of the American Smelt". Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. 94 (2): 160–168. doi:10.1577/1548-8659(1965)94[160:SASOEO]2.0.CO;2. Retrieved 14 November 2023.
  8. ^ Morrow, James Edwin (1980). The freshwater fishes of Alaska. Alaska Northwest Pub. Co. pp. 217–241. Retrieved 14 November 2023.

See also