| Goldeye | |
|---|---|
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| Conservation status | |
 Least Concern (IUCN 3.1) | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Hiodontiformes |
| Family: | Hiodontidae |
| Genus: | Hiodon |
| Species: | H. alosoides |
| Binomial name | |
| Hiodon alosoides (Rafinesque, 1819) Nash 1908 | |
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| Synonyms | |
List
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The goldeye (Hiodon alosoides) is a freshwater fish found in Canada and the northern United States. It is one of only two extant species in the family Hiodontidae, the other species being Hiodon tergisus. The species name alosoides means shad-like. It is also called Winnipeg goldeye, western goldeye, yellow herring, toothed herring, shad mooneye, la Queche, weepicheesis, or laquaiche aux yeux d’or in French.
Morphology
Goldeyes are recognizable by their silver compressed body form and their large gold-coloured eyes. Their body appears to be a blue-green silver from above and a more white silver from below. They have two abdominal and pelvic fins as well as a dorsal on their back and an anal fin on their underside. The dorsal fin is positioned opposite or behind the origin of the anal fin. Goldeyes also have a fleshy keel that extends from the pectoral fins to the base of the anal fin. Their mouth is large and in the terminal position with a blunt round snout. There are teeth present on the tongue, the roof of the mouth on the parasphenoid bone and the palatopterygoid arch and along the jaws. The goldeye fish has cycloid scales that lack spines. They also have a sensory system known as the lateral line system. Adults are usually about 15–17 inches (380–430 mm) but can reach 20 inches (510 mm). Goldeyes typically weigh only 1–2 pounds (0.45–0.91 kg).
Reproduction
The age of first reproduction for goldeyes is 7–10 years for females and 6–9 years for males. They spawn in late May or early June. The eggs that they lay are about 4 millimetres (0.16 in) in size and they are semi-buoyant. This is a rare trait in fresh water fish, but is more common in marine fish. The eggs are suspended in the water and they drift downstream or to quiet waters. The majority of growth that occurs between June and September.
Range
Goldeyes occur from as far down the Mackenzie River as Aklavik in the north to Mississippi in the south, and from Alberta in the west to Ohio south of the Great Lakes, with an isolated population south of James Bay. It prefers turbid slower-moving waters of lakes and rivers.
Diet
Goldeyes feed on insects, crustaceans, fish and frogs. The fish averages less than 1 lb (450 g) or 12 in (30 cm) in length, but can be found up to 2 lb (910 g) or 16 in (41 cm) in some lakes. It has been reported up to 52 cm (20 in) in length.
Fishing
The goldeye is considered a good fly-fishing fish, but not popular with most anglers because of its small size. It is one of 122 new species of animals, birds, and fish documented by the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery. Commercial fishing of this species was reported as early as 1876. Its fresh flesh is considered soft and unappealing, so it was only taken randomly in gillnets and (in the past) sold for dogfood. They are now consumed as a smoked fish commonly smoked in oak or apple wood and marinated in a brine of salt, sugar, and spices.
Its commercial viability was realized by Robert Firth, who immigrated to Winnipeg, Manitoba from Hull, England in 1886. Firth was carrying on a mediocre trade in cold-smoked goldeye, when he miscalculated the heat of his smoker and accidentally developed the now-standard method of hot-smoking it whole. The bright red or orange colour of the smoked fish resulted from using only willow smoke, but today is achieved through aniline dye. It became a fashionable gourmet dish after 1911, with Woodrow Wilson and the Prince of Wales counted amongst its fans. In 1926–29 the annual catch exceeded a million pounds, but stocks declined from 1931 and little was fished from Lake Winnipeg after 1938. A small amount of the commercial harvest is shipped to the United States, but most is consumed in Canada. Although Lake Winnipeg was once the main commercial source, it now comes from elsewhere, especially in Saskatchewan and Alberta, and the culinary name Winnipeg goldeye has come to be associated with the city where it is processed.
The fish is the namesake of Winnipeg's minor league baseball team, the Winnipeg Goldeyes.
See also
Notes
- NatureServe (2013). "Hiodon alosoides". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2013: e.T202408A18232129. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2013-1.RLTS.T202408A18232129.en. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
- Van Der Laan, Richard; Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ronald (11 November 2014). "Family-group names of Recent fishes". Zootaxa. 3882 (1): 1–230. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1. PMID 25543675.
- Froese, R.; Pauly, D. (2017). "Hiodontidae". FishBase version (02/2017). Retrieved 18 May 2017.
- ^ Page, Lawrence M; Burr, Brooks M. (2011). Peterson Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes of North America North of Mexico. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 144. ISBN 9780547242064.
- ^ Scott & Crossman 1973, p. 332
- ^ "Goldeye". Field Guide. Missouri Department of Conservation. Retrieved 28 October 2023.
- Greenwood, Peter Humphry (1970). "On the Genus Lycoptera and its Relationship with the Family Hiodontidae (Pisces, Osteoglossomorpha)". Bull. Br. Mus. Nat. Hist. (Zool.). 19 (8). London: 267, 280. Retrieved 28 October 2023 – via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
- "Goldeye". ODNR Division of Wildlife Ohio Department of Natural Resources. 2012. Archived from the original on May 18, 2015. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
- ^ Battle, HI; Sprules, WM. (1960). "A Description of the Semi-buoyant Eggs and Early Developmental Stages of the Goldeye, Hiodon alosoides (Rafinesque)". Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada. 17 (2): 245–266. doi:10.1139/f60-020.
- Scott & Crossman 1973, pp. 328–29
- ^ McClane 1974, p. 432
- Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Hiodon alosoides". FishBase. August 2005 version.
- "Lewis and Clark Expedition and Tribes Encountered". National Geographic Society. Archived from the original on December 22, 2002. Retrieved 2012-02-02
- ^ Scott & Crossman 1973, pp. 330–31
- Scott & Crossman 1973, p. 328
- ^ Scott & Crossman 1973, p. 331
- Murray, L. "Goldeye". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on June 8, 2011.
References
- McClane, A.J. (1974), "Goldeye", in McClane, A.J. (ed.), McClane's New Standard Fishing Encyclopedia and International Angling Guide, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, ISBN 0-03-060325-0
- Scott, W.B.; Crossman, E.J. (1973), Freshwater Fishes of Canada (5th (1990) ed.), Ottawa: Fisheries Research Board of Canada, pp. 327–332, ISBN 0-660-10239-0
- "Goldeye". Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Underwater World. Archived from the original on 30 June 2013.
- "Hiodon alosoides". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 24 January 2006.
| Taxon identifiers | |
|---|---|
| Hiodon alosoides | |