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Osmerus mordax (Mitchill, 1814)

Rainbow smelt
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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.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Osmeriformes (Freshwater smelts) > Osmeridae (Smelts)
Etymology: Osmerus: Greek, osme = odorous; similar to freshly cut cucumbers (Ref. 45335);  mordax: mordax meaning biting (Ref. 10294).
More on author: Mitchill.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; freshwater; brackish; pelagic-oceanic; anadromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 0 - 425 m (Ref. 58426), usually ? - 150 m (Ref. 96339). Temperate; 6°C - 18°C (Ref. 1998); 73°N - 41°N, 167°W - 53°W (Ref. 86798)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

North Atlantic: Atlantic drainages from Lake Melville in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada to Delaware River in Pennsylvania, USA and west through Great lakes. Arctic and Pacific drainages from Bathurst Inlet, Northwest Territories to Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. Also Pacific drainages of Asia.

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 19.5  range ? - 19.8 cm
Max length : 35.6 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 1998); max. reported age: 7 years (Ref. 52222)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

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). Inhabits cool clear lakes, medium to large rivers, and coastal waters (Ref. 86798). A schooling species that occurs in midwater of lakes or inshore coastal waters (Ref. 1998); at temperatures ranging from 7.2-15.6°C. Coastal population are anadromous (Ref, 86798). 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).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturities | Reproduction | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larvae

Spawning runs occur when temperature is between 8.9-18.3°C, may last for 3 weeks, peak for 1 week. Lengths of both sexes decrease as spawning progress. Two or more tuberculated males maintain position against a female in swift water, eggs released in clusters and presumably milt released simultaneously. Spawning usually takes place at night, spawners move downstream to the lake during daytime.

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Mecklenburg, K.C., P.R. Møller and D. Steinke, 2011. Biodiversity oif the Arctic marine fishes: taxonomy and zoogeography. Marine Biodiversity 41(1):109-140. (Ref. 86838)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 01 March 2012

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; gamefish: yes
FAO - Fisheries: landings; Publication: search | FishSource | Sea Around Us

More information

Life cycle
Reproduction
Maturities
Fecundities
Spawnings
Spawning aggregations
Egg(s)
Egg developments
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Anatomy
Gill areas
Brains
Otoliths
Physiology
Body compositions
Nutrients
Oxygen consumptions
Swimming type
Swimming speeds
Visual pigment(s)
Fish sounds
Diseases / Parasites
Toxicities (LC50s)
Genetics
Genetics
Electrophoreses
Heritabilities
Human related
Aquaculture systems
Aquaculture profiles
Strains
Ciguatera cases
Stamps, coins, misc.
Outreach
Collaborators
References
References

Tools

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Alien/Invasive Species database | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Fisheries: landings; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | OceanAdapt | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | Public aquariums | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 0.2 - 6.9, mean 2.7 °C (based on 724 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5625   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00407 (0.00328 - 0.00506), b=3.15 (3.08 - 3.22), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.0   ±0.0 se; based on diet studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.31; tm=2-6; tmax=6; Fec=8,500).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate vulnerability (38 of 100).
Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649):  Low to moderate vulnerability (32 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Low.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 55.1 [21.0, 119.8] mg/100g; Iron = 0.477 [0.226, 1.202] mg/100g; Protein = 17.6 [14.6, 20.0] %; Omega3 = 0.853 [0.430, 1.777] g/100g; Selenium = 14.5 [6.4, 42.4] μg/100g; VitaminA = 14 [4, 47] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.827 [0.530, 1.309] mg/100g (wet weight); based on nutrient studies.