Smelts are a family of small fish, the Osmeridae, found in the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans, as well as rivers, streams and lakes in Europe, North America and Northeast Asia. They are also known as freshwater smelts or typical smelts to distinguish them from the related Argentinidae, Bathylagidae, and Retropinnidae.
A sculpin is a type of fish that belongs to the superfamily Cottoidea in the order Scorpaeniformes. As of 2006, this superfamily contains 7 families, 94 genera, and 387 species.
The snailfishes or sea snails are a family of marine ray-finned fishes. These fishes make up the Liparidae, which is classified within the order Scorpaeniformes.
Dragonets are small, percomorph, marine fish of the diverse family Callionymidae found mainly in the tropical waters of the western Indo-Pacific. They are benthic organisms, spending most of their time near the sandy bottoms, at a depth of roughly two hundred meters. There exist 139 species of the fish, in nineteen genera.
The delta smelt is an endangered slender-bodied smelt, about 5 to 7 cm long, in the family Osmeridae. Endemic to the upper Sacramento-San Joaquin Estuary of California, it mainly inhabits the freshwater-saltwater mixing zone of the estuary, except during its spawning season, when it migrates upstream to fresh water following winter "first flush" flow events. It functions as an indicator species for the overall health of the Delta's ecosystem.
The largehead hairtail or beltfish is a member of the cutlassfish family, Trichiuridae. This common to abundant species is found in tropical and temperate oceans throughout the world. The taxonomy is not fully resolved, and the Atlantic, East Pacific and Northwest Pacific populations are also known as Atlantic cutlassfish, Pacific cutlassfish and Japanese cutlassfish, respectively. This predatory, elongated fish supports major fisheries.
Hypomesus is a genus of smelts (Osmeridae), consisting of five species found in the northern hemisphere.
Galeus is a genus of deepwater catshark, belonging to the family Pentanchidae, commonly known as sawtail catsharks in reference to a distinctive saw-toothed crest of enlarged dermal denticles, found along the upper edges of their caudal fins. They are found in the Atlantic, the western and central Pacific, and the Gulf of California, inhabiting deep waters at or close to the sea floor. Members of this genus are rather small, slim sharks with firm bodies and thick, rough skin. Their heads are usually fairly long and pointed, and have large mouths with well-developed furrows at the corners. They have large pectoral and anal fins, and two similar dorsal fins placed well back. Many species are ornately patterned with dark saddles and/or blotches. Sawtail catsharks feed on various invertebrates and fishes, and may be either egg-laying or live-bearing. These harmless sharks are sometimes caught as bycatch but are of minimal commercial value.
The blotchy swellshark or Japanese swellshark is a common species of catshark, belonging to the family Scyliorhinidae. The Blotchy swellshark is found at depths of 90–200 m (300–660 ft) in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, from Japan to Taiwan. It is benthic in nature and favors rocky reefs. Reaching 1.4 m (4.6 ft) in length, this thick-bodied shark has a broad head, large mouth, and two unequally-sized dorsal fins positioned far back past the pelvic fins. It can be identified by its dorsal coloration, consisting of seven brown "saddles" and extensive darker mottling on a light tan background. This species has often been confounded with the draughtsboard shark and the Sarawak pygmy swellshark in scientific literature.
The broadfin sawtail catshark is a species of shark belonging to the family Pentanchidae, the deepwater catsharks. It is found on or near the bottom at depths of 150–540 m (490–1,770 ft), from southeastern Japan to the East China Sea. A slender species growing to 68 cm (27 in) long, this shark is characterized by a fairly long, pointed snout, a series of indistinct, dark saddles along its back and tail, and a prominent crest of enlarged dermal denticles along the dorsal edge of its caudal fin. In addition, adult males have very long claspers that reach past the anal fin. The broadfin sawtail catshark is an opportunistic predator of bony fishes, cephalopods, and crustaceans, with immature and mature sharks being primarily piscivorous. It is oviparous and reproduces year-round.
The Sillaginidae, commonly known as the smelt-whitings, whitings, sillaginids, sand borers and sand-smelts, are a family of benthic coastal marine fish historically classified in the order Perciformes, although the 5th edition of Fishes of the World places the family in the Spariformes. The smelt-whitings inhabit a wide region covering much of the Indo-Pacific, from the west coast of Africa east to Japan and south to Australia. The family comprises only five genera and 35 species, of which a number are dubious, with the last major revision of the family in 1992 unable to confirm the validity of a number of species. They are elongated, slightly compressed fish, often light brown to silver in colour, with a variety of markings and patterns on their upper bodies. The Sillaginidae are not related to a number of fishes commonly called 'whiting' in the Northern Hemisphere, including the fish originally called whiting, Merlangius merlangus.
The Japanese stream toad, also known as the Honshū toad, is a species of toad in the family Bufonidae. It was first described by Masafumi Matsui in 1976 during research with Kyoto University as a "moderate to large-sized toad" with a "peculiar color pattern" and "stream-dwelling habits."
The Argentiniformes is an order of marine ray-finned fish whose distinctness was recognized only fairly recently. In former times, they were included in the Osmeriformes as suborder Argentinoidei. That term refers only to the suborder of marine smelts and barreleyes in the classification used here, with the slickheads and allies being the Alepocephaloidei. These suborders were treated as superfamilies Argentinoidea and Alepocephaloidea, respectively, when the present group was still included in the Osmeriformes.
Hypomesus nipponensis is a commercial food fish native to the lakes and estuaries of northern Honshu and Hokkaido, Japan, Korea, and Sakhalin, Khabarovsk Krai, and Primorsky Krai, Russia. It has been introduced in other locations, including the San Francisco Delta of the United States. It is raised in fisheries, and is very similar in appearance to the delta smelt.
H. japonicus may refer to:
The Japanese jack mackerel, also known as the Japanese horse mackerel or Japanese scad, is a species named after its resemblance to mackerel but which is in the family Carangidae, the jacks, pompanos, trevallies and scads. Their maximum reported length is 50 cm (20 in) with a common length of 35 cm (14 in). They have a maximum reported weight of 0.66 kg (1.5 lb) and a maximum reported age of 12 years. They are found around the coast of Japan, except Okinawa Island, usually on sandy bottoms of 50–275 m (164–902 ft) deep. They feed mainly on small crustaceans such as copepods, as well as shrimp and small fish. They are similar to the yellowtail horse mackerel around New Zealand and Australia, apart from having more gill rakers and larger eyes.
Nemipterus is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Nemipteridae, the threadfin and whiptail breams. These fishes are found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, but now also occur in the Mediterranean Sea due to Lessepsian migration.
Cheilopogon nigricans, the blacksail flyingfish, also known as African flyingfish, or leaping flyingfish, is a flying fish in the family Exocoetidae. It is an oceanodromous, plankton-eating marine fish which has commercial value.
Callanthias japonicus, the Japanese splendid perch or yellowsail sea bass, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Callanthiidae. This species is found in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.
