Species: Thaleichthys pacificus

Eulachon

Species

Fishes

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Species of concern in the Salish Sea

Fishes of Puget Sound and adjacent waters

Species of concern in the Puget Sound watershed

Fishes of the Salish Sea

Encyclopedia of Puget Sound

200 mm (Morrow 1980, Mecklenburg et al. 2002).

Classification

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Craniata

Class

Actinopterygii

Order

Osmeriformes

Family

Osmeridae

Genus

Thaleichthys

NatureServe

Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.100935

Classification

Other Global Common Names

eulakane

Informal Taxonomy

Animals, Vertebrates - Fishes - Bony Fishes - Other Bony Fishes

Formal Taxonomy

Animalia - Craniata - Actinopterygii - Osmeriformes - Osmeridae - Thaleichthys - See Begle (1991) for a classification and phylogeny of osmeroid fishes based on morphology. Common name eulachon is derived from the Chinook language, a synthetic trading language made of combined French, English, and various Native American languages (Hay and McCarter 2000).

Ecology and Life History

200 mm (Morrow 1980, Mecklenburg et al. 2002).

Short General Description

A small anadromous smelt.

Habitat Type Description

Freshwater

Migration

false - true - false - Anadromous. Migrates short distances up coastal streams to spawn.

Non-migrant

false

Locally Migrant

true

Food Comments

Eats crustaceans. Adults do not feed while in fresh water. Mainly a particulate feeder as opposed to a filter feeder, consuming primarily marine euphausiid crustaceans (<i>Thysanoessa</i> spp.) (Hay and McCarter 2000). Young fish eat mostly copepod larvae, phytoplankton, copepods and other zooplankton, and smaller eulachon larvae; diet of juvenile fish consists of euphausiids, like adults (Morrow 1980).

Reproduction Comments

Spawns in the spring. Females produce 17,000- 40,000 eggs (Scott and Crossman 1973); average fecundity is around 25,000 eggs per female (Drake and Wilson 1991). Eggs incubate in sediment for 2-3 weeks, depending on water temperature, then hatch and larvae are carried downstream to the sea (Willson et al. 2003). Most adults die soon after spawning, may live 5 years. Generally semelparous, with sexual maturity reached at around age 3 or 4 (Hay and McCarter 2000, Willson et al. 2003). Spawning occurs at night, and males and females must synchronize activity closely because eulachon sperm remain viable for only a short time, possibly minutes (Hay and McCarter 2000, Willson et al. 2003). Spawning migration timing is variable and appears to be related to water temperature and the occurrence of high tides. Runs occur from February to June throughout species range, but generally occur in April or May; in some rivers more than one run occurs (Willson et al. 2003).

Ecology Comments

A valuable food source for many animals because of extremely high oil content (about 20%, or 4-5 times higher than most other fish of comparable size) (Payne et al. 1999 in Hay and McCarter 2000). Predators include sea birds and ducks, marine and terrestrial mammals, and humans (Lee et al. 1980, Willson et al. 2003). Predators often congregate at eulachon spawning runs. Used historically and currently for an essential source of oil and food by Native Americans throughout their range (Drake and Wilson 1991). Called candlefish because a dried fish threaded with a wick will burn like a candle (Hay and McCarter 2000).

Length

Conservation Status

NatureServe Global Status Rank

Global Status Last Reviewed

2005-05-26

Global Status Last Changed

1996-09-13

Distribution

Conservation Status Map

Global Range

Found only in the eastern Pacific, from Monterey Bay, California, to Nushagak River and Pribilof Islands, Bering Sea, Alaska (Lee et al. 1980, Page and Burr 1991). Distribution coincides closely with coastal temperate rainforest, although there may not be a functional linkage (Hay and McCarter 2000). Historically spawned in the Sacramento River system and farther south along the California and Baja California coast but have been extirpated from those locations, occurring now only as far south as Monterey Bay (one record from this location) and in the Klamath River in California, rivers in Oregon and the Columbia River in Washington (Hay and McCarter 2000, Mecklenburg et al. 2002, Willson et al. 2003). In Alaska, seasonally abundant in most major drainages from Southeast Alaska west to Cook Inlet and become less abundant westward toward the Aleutian Islands and the Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea (Fritz et al. 1993, Willson et al. 2003).

ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.100935