Goldeye | |
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Scientific classification | |
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 | |
Synonyms [2] [3] | |
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 . [4] The species name alosoides means shad-like. [5] 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. [5]
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. [4] 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. [4] Their mouth is large and in the terminal position with a blunt round snout. There are teeth present on the tongue, [6] the roof of the mouth on the parasphenoid bone and the palatopterygoid arch [7] and along the jaws. [6] The goldeye fish has cycloid scales that lack spines. They also have a sensory system known as the lateral line system. [4] 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). [8]
The age of first reproduction for goldeyes is 7–10 years for females and 6–9 years for males. [9] They spawn in late May or early June. [9] 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. [9]
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. [10] It prefers turbid slower-moving waters of lakes and rivers.[ citation needed ]
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. [11] It has been reported up to 52 cm (20 in) in length. [12]
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. [13] Commercial fishing of this species was reported as early as 1876. [14] Its fresh flesh is considered soft and unappealing, so it was only taken randomly in gillnets and (in the past) sold for dogfood. [14] 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. [11] The bright red or orange colour of the smoked fish resulted from using only willow smoke, but today is achieved through aniline dye. [15] It became a fashionable gourmet dish after 1911, [16] with Woodrow Wilson and the Prince of Wales counted amongst its fans. [11] In 1926–29 the annual catch exceeded a million pounds, but stocks declined from 1931 and little was fished from Lake Winnipeg after 1938. [16] A small amount of the commercial harvest is shipped to the United States, but most is consumed in Canada. [11] 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. [17]
The fish is the namesake of Winnipeg's minor league baseball team, the Winnipeg Goldeyes.[ citation needed ]
The walleye, also called the walleyed pike, yellow pike, yellow pikeperch or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern United States. It is a North American close relative of the European zander, also known as the pikeperch. The walleye is sometimes called the yellow walleye to distinguish it from the blue walleye, which is a color morph that was once found in the southern Ontario and Quebec regions, but is now presumed extinct. However, recent genetic analysis of a preserved (frozen) 'blue walleye' sample suggests that the blue and yellow walleye were simply phenotypes within the same species and do not merit separate taxonomic classification.
Lake Winnipeg is a very large, relatively shallow 24,514-square-kilometre (9,465 sq mi) lake in North America, in the province of Manitoba, Canada. Its southern end is about 55 kilometres (34 mi) north of the city of Winnipeg. Lake Winnipeg is Canada's sixth-largest freshwater lake and the third-largest freshwater lake contained entirely within Canada, but it is relatively shallow excluding a narrow 36 m (118 ft) deep channel between the northern and southern basins. It is the eleventh-largest freshwater lake on Earth. The lake's east side has pristine boreal forests and rivers that were in 2018 inscribed as Pimachiowin Aki, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The lake is 416 km (258 mi) from north to south, with remote sandy beaches, large limestone cliffs, and many bat caves in some areas. Manitoba Hydro uses the lake as one of the largest reservoirs in the world. There are many islands, most of them undeveloped.
The burbot, also known as bubbot, mariah, loche, cusk, freshwater cod, freshwater ling, freshwater cusk, the lawyer, coney-fish, lingcod, or eelpout, is a species of coldwater ray-finned fish native to the subarctic regions of the Northern hemisphere. It is the only member of the genus Lota, and is the only freshwater species of the order Gadiformes. The species is closely related to marine fish such as the common ling and cusk, all of which belong to the family Lotidae (rocklings).
The American eel is a facultative catadromous fish found on the eastern coast of North America. Freshwater eels are fish belonging to the elopomorph superorder, a group of phylogenetically ancient teleosts. The American eel has a slender, supple, snake-like body that is covered with a mucus layer, which makes the eel appear to be naked and slimy despite the presence of minute scales. A long dorsal fin runs from the middle of the back and is continuous with a similar ventral fin. Pelvic fins are absent, and relatively small pectoral fins can be found near the midline, followed by the head and gill covers. Variations exist in coloration, from olive green, brown shading to greenish-yellow and light gray or white on the belly. Eels from clear water are often lighter than those from dark, tannic acid streams.
Hiodontiformes is an order of ray-finned fish consisting of the two living species of the mooneye family, Hiodontidae, and three extinct genera.
Hiodontidae, commonly called mooneyes, is a family of ray-finned fish with a single included genus Hiodon. The genus comprise two extant species native to North America and three to five extinct species recorded from Paleocene to Eocene age fossils. They are large-eyed, fork-tailed fish that superficially resemble shads. The vernacular name comes from the metallic shine of their eyes.
The haddock is a saltwater ray-finned fish from the family Gadidae, the true cods. It is the only species in the monotypic genus Melanogrammus. It is found in the North Atlantic Ocean and associated seas, where it is an important species for fisheries, especially in northern Europe, where it is marketed fresh, frozen and smoked; smoked varieties include the Finnan haddie and the Arbroath smokie. Other smoked versions include long boneless, the fileted side of larger haddock smoked in oak chips with the skin left on the fillet.
The black crappie is a freshwater fish found in North America, one of the two types of crappies. It is very similar to the white crappie in size, shape, and habits, except that it is darker, with a pattern of black spots. Alternate names for the species include calico bass, speck, speckled perch, speckled bass, moonfish, grass bass, strawberry bass, shiner, crawpie, oswego bass, sac-a-lait, and marigane noire.
The yellow perch, commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Samuel Latham Mitchill from New York. It is closely related, and morphologically similar to the European perch ; and is sometimes considered a subspecies of its European counterpart.
Pink salmon or humpback salmon is a species of euryhaline ray-finned fish in the family Salmonidae. It is the type species of the genus Oncorhynchus, and is the smallest and most abundant of the seven officially recognized species of salmon. The species' scientific name is based on the Russian common name for this species gorbúša (горбуша), which literally means humpie.
The lake sturgeon, also known as the rock sturgeon, is a North American temperate freshwater fish, one of about 25 species of sturgeon. Like other sturgeons, this species is a bottom feeder and has a partly cartilaginous skeleton, an overall streamlined shape, and skin bearing rows of bony plates on the sides and back.
The lake chub is a freshwater cyprinid fish found in Canada and in parts of the United States. Of all North American minnows, it is the one with the northernmost distribution. Its genus, Couesius is considered monotypic today. The genus was named after Elliott Coues, who collected the holotype specimen.
The emerald shiner is one of hundreds of small, silvery, slender fish species known as shiners. The identifying characteristic of the emerald shiner is the silvery emerald color on its sides. It is found across North America from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, commonly in large, deep lakes and rivers, though sometimes in smaller bodies of water as well. It feeds on small organisms such as zooplankton and insects, congregating in large groups near the surface of the water. It is a quite common fish and is often used as a bait fish.
The American gizzard shad, also known as the mud shad, is a member of the herring family of fish and is native to large swaths of fresh and brackish waters in the United States of America, as well as portions of Quebec, Canada, and Mexico. The adult has a deep body, with a silvery-green coloration above fading to plain silver below. The gizzard shad commonly resides in freshwater lakes, reservoirs, rivers, and streams but can also reside in brackish waters, as it does on the Atlantic coast of the United States. Their range is across most of the continental United States, although they typically go no further north than New York and no further west than New Mexico. They are a large part of many of the ecosystems they inhabit and can drive changes in phyto- and zooplankton, thereby indirectly affecting other planktivorous fishes. The gizzard shad has been widely used as a food source for game fish, with varied success in management and effectiveness.
The lake lamprey, Entosphenus macrostomus, also known as the Vancouver lamprey or Cowichan lamprey, a recent derivative of the Pacific lamprey, is a species of freshwater lamprey endemic to two North American lakes: Lake Cowichan and Mesachie Lake in Vancouver Island, Canada. The lamprey was originally called the Vancouver Island lamprey, until an error in filing shortened it to the Vancouver lamprey. The alternate common name of "Cowichan lamprey" was coined and promoted by the species' describer, Dr. Dick Beamish, who originally identified the species in the 1980s.
Hiodon tergisus, the mooneye, is a freshwater fish that is widespread across eastern North America.
Helen Irene Battle was a pioneering Canadian ichthyologist and marine biologist. She was the first Canadian woman to earn a PhD in marine biology and she was also one of the first zoologists to engage in laboratory research. She was an emeritus professor of zoology at the University of Western Ontario from 1972.
Hiodon woodruffi is an extinct species of bony fish in the mooneye family, Hiodontidae. The species is known from fossils found in the early Eocene deposits of northern Washington state in the United States and late Eocene deposits in northwestern Montana. The species was first described as Eohiodon woodruffi. H. woodruffi is one of two Eocene Okanagan Highlands mooneye species, and one of five fish identified in the Klondike Mountain Formation.
Goldeyes or Gold Eye may refer to: