Rainbow Smelt
Osmerus mordax
- Class
- Ray-finned fish
- Rarity
- Common
- Observations
- 567
- Most observed in
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- Conservation
- Least Concern
Description
The rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax) is a North American species of fish of the family Osmeridae. Walleye, trout, and other larger fish prey on these smelt. The rainbow smelt prefer juvenile ciscoes, zooplankton such as calanoid copepods (Leptodiaptomus ashlandi, L. minutus, L. sicilis), and other small organisms, but are aggressive and will eat almost any fish they find. They are anadromous spring spawners and prefer clean streams with light flow and light siltation. The rainbow smelt face several barriers. They are weak swimmers and struggle to navigate fish ladders preventing them from making it past dams to the headwater streams where they spawn. The rise in erosion and dams helped to decimate the smelt population in the 1980s. There are currently plans to try to reduce damming and to help control erosion.
Summary adapted from the Wikipedia article “Rainbow smelt”.