Pacific rainbow smelt

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Pacific rainbow smelt
Osmerus mordax (line art).jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
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]

Contents

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). [4] The body color is mostly silver. They usually prey on plankton and squid. [3]

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. [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]

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. 1 2 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

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