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Osmerus mordax  (Mitchill, 1814)

Rainbow smelt
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Native range | All suitable habitat | Point map | Year 2100
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Osmerus mordax   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Osmerus mordax (Rainbow smelt)
Osmerus mordax
Picture by Lyons, J.


country information

Common names: [No common name]
Occurrence:
Salinity:
Abundance: | Ref:
Importance: | Ref:
Aquaculture: | Ref:
Regulations: | Ref:
Uses: no uses
Comments:
National Checklist:
Country Information:
National Fisheries Authority:
Occurrences: Occurrences Point map
National Database:

Classification / Names

Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Osmeriformes (Smelts) > Osmeridae (Smelts)
Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL

Main reference

Size / Weight / Age

Max length : 35.6 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 1998); max. reported age: 7 years (Ref. 52222)

Length at first maturity
Lm 19.5  range ? - 19.8 cm

Environment

Marine; freshwater; brackish; pelagic-oceanic; anadromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 0 - 425 m (Ref. 58426), usually ? - 150 m (Ref. 96339)

Climate / Range

Temperate, preferred 2°C (Ref. 107945); 73°N - 41°N (Ref. 26213)

Distribution

North Atlantic: Lake Melville, Labrador, Canada to Delaware River, Pennsylvania, (maybe to Virginia), and inland along Saint Lawrence River to Lake Superior. Northwest Pacific: off Russia (Ref. 26334).
Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions

Short description

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 8; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 12 - 16; Vertebrae: 58 - 70. Body elongate, laterally compressed, greatest depth at anterior of dorsal fin origin. Head moderate; eye moderately large; snout elongate, pointed. Mouth large; lower jaw protruding, maxillary extending to middle of eye or beyond, well toothed on vomer, palatine, pterygoid, basibranchial, dentary, maxillary, and tongue. Teeth specially enlarged on tongue and front of vomer. Body color is pale green on back, with purple, blue, and pink iridescent reflections on the side when freshly caught.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Nerito-pelagic (Ref. 58426). A schooling species that occurs in midwater of lakes or inshore coastal waters (Ref. 1998); at temperatures ranging from 7.2-15.6°C. Migrates up to 1,000 km upstream in rivers (Ref. 6793). Occurs possibly to 425 m (Ref. 2851). Feeds on invertebrates such as amphipods, ostracods, aquatic insect larvae and aquatic worms (Ref. 1998); food also include copepods, euphausiids, mysids and small fishes (silversides, mummichogs and herring) (Ref. 5951, 10294). Headed, gutted, sold fresh, frozen and precooked. Eaten sautéed and fried (Ref. 9988).

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 115185)

Threat to humans

  Harmless



Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; gamefish: yes

More information

References
Aquaculture
Aquaculture profile
Strains
Genetics
Allele frequencies
Heritability
Diseases
Processing
Mass conversion
Collaborators
Pictures
Stamps, Coins
Sounds
Ciguatera
Speed
Swim. type
Gill area
Otoliths
Brains
Vision

Tools

Special reports

Download XML

Internet sources

Alien/Invasive Species database | BHL | BOLDSystems | Check for other websites | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO(fisheries: production; publication : search) | GenBank(genome, nucleotide) | GOBASE | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | iSpecies | Public aquariums | PubMed | Scirus | Sea Around Us | SeaLifeBase | Tree of Life | uBio | uBio RSS | Wikipedia(Go, Search) | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record | Fishtrace

Estimates of some properties based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805)
PD50 = 0.5625 many relatives (e.g. carps) 0.5 - 2.0 few relatives (e.g. lungfishes)

Trophic Level (Ref. 69278)
3.0   ±0.0 se; Based on diet studies.

Resilience (Ref. 69278)
Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.31; tm=2-6; tmax=6; Fec=8,500)

Vulnerability (Ref. 59153)
Moderate vulnerability (38 of 100)
Price category (Ref. 80766)
Low