Species: Hypomesus pretiosus

Surf Smelt
Species

    Science Review:

    Articles:

    State aquatic reserves lean heavily on citizen scientists

    Eight aquatic reserves in Puget Sound are being studied by volunteers working under the direction of state experts. Washington Department of Natural Resources manages the reserves with guidance from nearby communities.

    Fidalgo Bay Citizen's Stewardship Committee volunteers conduct intertidal monitoring surveys during low tide at Fidalgo Bay Aquatic Reserve. Photo: Erica Bleke/DNR
    The secret lives of forage fish: Where do they go when we aren’t looking?

    Some of the most important fish in the Salish Sea food web are also the most mysterious. Researchers have only begun to understand how many there are, where they go, and how we can preserve their populations for the future. A University of Washington researcher describes how scientists are looking into the problem.

    Pacific sand lance at rest on sand. Photo: Collin Smith, USGS. https://www.flickr.com/photos/usgeologicalsurvey/13378704834
    Studies point to gap in permits for shoreline armoring

    A significant number of Puget Sound property owners have been altering their shorelines without required permits. A new report suggests that state and local regulators should increase enforcement and make penalties more costly for violators.

    Chart: Local shoreline changes in King County (2012-13). Source: King County, 2014
    Spawning habitat for forage fish being lost to rising tides

    Where shoreline bulkheads remain in place, the loss of spawning habitat used by surf smelt is likely to reach 80 percent.

    Spawning Surf Smelt. Fidalgo Bay. Photo: Copyright Jon Michael https://www.flickr.com/photos/-jon/5892559865
    Forage fish are losing places to lay their eggs

    Rising sea levels are expected to exacerbate habitat loss caused by bulkheads, according to studies in the San Juan Islands.

    Cattle Point Beach, San Juan Island, WA. Photo: Travis S. (CC BY-NC 2.0) https://www.flickr.com/photos/baggis/8089171175
    Declines in marine birds trouble scientists

    Why did all the grebes leave? Where did they go? And what does their disappearance say about the health of the Salish Sea? Seasonal declines among some regional bird species could hold important clues to the overall health of the ecosystem.

    Western grebe. Public Pier, Blaine, WA. Photo: Andrew Reding https://www.flickr.com/photos/seaotter/10298390254
    Study panel on ecosystem-based management of forage fish in Puget Sound

    Forage fish represent a critical link in the Puget Sound food web and help to sustain key species like salmon, marine mammals and sea birds. But the region’s forage fish may be vulnerable on a variety of fronts, according to a new study panel report from the University of Washington Puget Sound Institute. Download the panel's summary and proposed research plan.

    Photo courtesy of USGS
    Presentations: 2013 study panel on ecosystem-based management of forage fish in Puget Sound

    Download presentations from the Study Panel on Ecosystem-based Management of Forage Fish held August 25, 2013 at the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Lab, San Juan Island.

    Marine forage fishes in Puget Sound

    This is the executive summary from a technical report produced for the Puget Sound Nearshore Partnership on Valued Ecosystem Components (VEC). The entire document is included as a PDF with this summary.

    Pacific herring. Photo courtesy of NOAA.
    Forage fish in Puget Sound

    Forage fish occupy every marine and estuarine nearshore habitat in Washington, and much of the intertidal and shallow subtidal areas of the Puget Sound Basin are used by these species for spawning habitat.

    Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii). Image courtesy of NOAA.
    Kingdom
    Animalia
    Phylum
    Craniata
    Class

    Actinopterygii

    Order

    Osmeriformes

    Family

    Osmeridae

    Genus

    Hypomesus

    Classification
    Other Global Common Names
    éperlan argenté
    Informal Taxonomy
    <p>Animals, Vertebrates - Fishes - Bony Fishes - Other Bony Fishes</p>
    Formal Taxonomy
    Animalia - Craniata - Actinopterygii - Osmeriformes - Osmeridae - Hypomesus - Originally two subspecies were recognized by McAllister (1963): H. P. PRETIOSUS of North America and H. P. JAPONICUS of coastal Asia. These subspecies were raised to species status by Klyukanov (1975) (Lee et al. 1980). Eschmeyer and Herald (1983) retained JAPONICUS as a subspecies of PRETIOSA. See Begle (1991) for a classification and phylogeny of osmeroid fishes based on morphology.
    Habitat Type Description
    Marine
    Migration
    <p>false - false - false</p>
    Non-migrant
    false
    Locally Migrant
    false
    Food Comments
    Eats crustaceans, copepods, amphipods, crabs, larvae, euphausiids, etc.
    Reproduction Comments
    Spawns in daylight during most of the year. Female lays 1,320-29,950 adhesive eggs. Eggs may hatch in 10-11 days, or more in fall and winter (Lee et al. 1980). Apparently females spawn more than once in a season (Morrow 1980). Lives maximum of 2-3 years.
    Ecology Comments
    Preyed upon by chinook salmon.
    Length
    31
    NatureServe Global Status Rank
    G5
    Global Status Last Reviewed
    1996-09-12
    Global Status Last Changed
    1996-09-12
    Conservation Status Map
    <img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?CA.BC=SNR&US.AK=S5&US.CA=SNR&US.OR=S4&US.WA=SNR" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
    Global Range
    North American form ranges from Long Beach, California (rare south of San Francisco), north to Olsen Bay, Prince William Sound, Alaska. Asian form ranges from Wonsan, Korea, to Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka, and Udskaya Gulf, Sea of Okhosk, (former) USSR (Lee et al. 1980); Korea to Alaska, according to Eschmeyer and Herald (1983).
    ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.103643