Pacific rainbow smelt | |
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Scientific 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]
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]
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]