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Pacific rainbow smelt

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Species of fish

Pacific rainbow smelt
Conservation status

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)
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, 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. 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.

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). The body color is mostly silver. They usually prey on plankton and squid.

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. Movement to spawning grounds are usually made at night when the spawning group crowd together and move upstream. The whole spawning usually lasts several hours each night for several nights. Many spawned-out fish, especially males, die after spawning, but those that survive would spawn again in the following year.

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. ^ 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

Taxon identifiers
Osmerus dentex
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