Osmerus eperlanus, European smelt : fisheries

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Osmerus eperlanus (Linnaeus, 1758)

European smelt
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Native range | All suitable habitat | Point map | Year 2050
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Osmerus eperlanus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Osmerus eperlanus (European smelt)
Osmerus eperlanus
Picture by Meyer, T.

Poland country information

Common names: Stynka, Stynki
Occurrence: native
Salinity: freshwater
Abundance: common (usually seen) | Ref: Winkler, H.M., K. Skora, R. Repecka, M. Ploks, A. Neelov, L. Urho, A. Gushin and H. Jespersen, 2000
Importance: | Ref:
Aquaculture: | Ref:
Regulations: | Ref:
Uses: no uses
Comments:
National Checklist:
Country Information: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/pl.html
National Fisheries Authority:
Occurrences: Occurrences Point map
Main Ref: McAllister, D.E., 1984
National Database:

Common names from other countries

Éperlan européen, Eperlano europeo, Корюшка европейская, ... more

Classification / Names Nomi Comuni | Sinonimi | Catalog of Fishes(Genere, Specie) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

> Osmeriformes (Freshwater smelts) > Osmeridae (Smelts)
Etymology: Osmerus: Greek, osme = odorous; similar to freshly cut cucumbers (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Linnaeus.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / distribuzione batimetrica / distribution range Ecologia

marino; acqua dolce; salmastro pelagic-neritic; anadromo (Ref. 51243), usually ? - 50 m (Ref. 4545). Temperate; 70°N - 43°N, 9°W - 55°E

Distribuzione Stati | Aree FAO | Ecosystems | Presenze | Mappa dei ritrovamenti | Introduzioni | Faunafri

North Atlantic: White Sea southward to western coasts of France including Baltic Sea, southern North Sea and British Isles (Ref. 4545); the Gironde estuary is the southern limit of his distribution (Ref. 51442). Landlocked populations in lakes of coastal areas of North, Baltic, White and Barents Sea. North to about 68° N in Scandinavia (Ref. 59043). The former nominal subspecies Osmerus eperlanus eperlanus is recorded from the coasts and drainage of White and Barents Seas westward through Baltic Sea to Denmark and it is primarily lacustrine (Ref. 4545). The former subspecies Osmerus eperlanus schonfoldi (Rutty 1772) is sympatric with the nominate subspecies in parts of Poland, Denmark and the Baltic, and it is primarily anadromous (Ref. 4545).

Length at first maturity / Size / Peso / Age

Maturità: Lm 12.8  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 45.0 cm TL maschio/sesso non determinato; (Ref. 4545); common length : 16.5 cm TL maschio/sesso non determinato; (Ref. 682); peso massimo pubblicato: 178.00 g (Ref. 6114); Età massima riportata: 10 anni (Ref. 682)

Short description Chiavi di identificazione | Morfologia | Morfometria

Spine dorsali (totale) : 0; Raggi dorsali molli (totale) : 9 - 12; Spine anali: 0; Raggi anali molli: 12 - 16; Vertebre: 55 - 62. Body long and slim (Ref. 4545). Head rather pointed (Ref. 4545). Snout pointed (Ref. 4545). Upper jaw reaching to hind margin of eye, lower jaw projecting a little (Ref. 4545, Ref. 51442). Teeth in lower jaw larger than those of upper, strong teeth on tongue and canines on vomer (Ref. 4545). Dorsal fin origin behind base of pelvic fins (Ref. 4545). Incomplete lateral line is developed near the head (Ref. 51442). Dorsal side light olive green, flanks silver stripe, belly creamy white (Ref. 4545).
Body shape (shape guide): elongated.

Biologia     Glossario (es. epibenthic)

Inhabits marine waters, estuaries and large lakes (Ref. 59043). A midwater species, rarely far from shore, primarily anadromous in the west and lacustrine in the east; shoaling at least during spawning season (Ref. 4545). The essential part of its life is spend in the estuarine zone, with just short incursions in the littoral zone (Ref. 51442). The migratory form is grouping together in the estuarine zone for reproduction (Ref. 51442). Enters the rivers for spawning on sandy or gravely bottoms (Ref. 13696). Spawns in tributaries of lakes or along shallow shores of lakes and rivers on sand, gravel, stones and plant material, preferably in fast-flowing water (Ref. 59043). Reproduction takes place between February and May, depending on the water-temperature (Ref. 51442). Produces 8,000-50,000 yellow eggs with a diameter of 0.6-0.9 mm which adhere to the bottom (Ref. 13696, Ref. 51442). Eggs hatch in 3-5 weeks and the larvae descend to the estuarine zone (Ref. 13696, Ref. 51442). Feeds on shrimps and small crustaceans; larger individuals feed on small fish (Ref. 30578, Ref. 51442). Utilized as foodfish, smoked, as bait and fish oil (Ref. 35388). Smells like cucumber (Ref. 37032, 51442). Locally threatened due to pollution and barriers to migration (Ref. 59043).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturità | Riproduzione | Deposizione | Uova | Fecundity | Larve

Spawns in lower reaches of streams, deeper parts of lake in sand bottoms (Ref. 682). Spawning takes place with the melting of snow (Ref. 682). Many individuals die after the spawning (Ref. 682). Migratory form generally with rapid growth, more eggs, live longer; individuals feeding on fish grow bigger (Ref. 682). ). Becomes sexually mature in 3-4 years (15-18 cm) in brackish populations, 1-2 years (8-10 cm) in freshwater.

Main reference Upload your references | Bibliografia | Coordinatore | Collaboratori

Kottelat, M. and J. Freyhof, 2007. Handbook of European freshwater fishes. Publications Kottelat, Cornol and Freyhof, Berlin. 646 pp. (Ref. 59043)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-1)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 03 October 2022

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Pesca: commerciale
FAO - pesca: landings; Publication: search | FishSource | Sea Around Us

Informazioni ulteriori

Trophic ecology
Food items (preys)
Alimentazione
Consumo di cibo
Food rations
Predatori
Ecologia
Ecologia
Home ranges
Population dynamics
Growth parameters
Max. ages / sizes
Length-weight rel.
Length-length rel.
Length-frequencies
Mass conversion
Reclutamento
Abbondanza
Life cycle
Riproduzione
Maturità
Maturity/Gills rel.
Fecundity
Deposizione
Spawning aggregations
Uova
Egg development
Larve
Dinamica popolazioni larvali
Distribuzione
Stati
Aree FAO
Ecosystems
Presenze
Introduzioni
BRUVS - Videos
Anatomy
Area branchiale
Brain
Otolith
Physiology
Body composition
Nutrients
Oxygen consumption
Swimming type
Swimming speed
Visual pigments
Fish sound
Diseases & Parasites
Toxicity (LC50s)
Genetica
Genome
Genetica
Heterozygosity
Ereditarietà
Human related
Aquaculture systems
Profili di acquacoltura
Varietà
Ciguatera cases
Stamps, coins, misc.
Outreach
Collaboratori
Taxonomy
Nomi Comuni
Sinonimi
Morfologia
Morfometria
Immagini
Bibliografia
Bibliografia

Strumenti

E-book | Giuda pratica | Chiavi di identificazione | Generatore frequenze di lunghezza | Strumento Parametri Biologici | Mappa dei ritrovamenti | Catch-MSY |

Special reports

Check for Aquarium maintenance | Check for Species Fact Sheets | Check for Aquaculture Fact Sheets

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Summary page | Point data | Nomi Comuni | Photos

Fonti Internet

AFORO (otoliths) | Alien/Invasive Species database | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: Genere, Specie | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - pesca: landings; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | Database Nazionali | OneZoom | Open Tree of Life | OsteoBase: skull, spine | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | TreeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, ricerca | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Fonte Biblio. 123201): 5.5 - 12, mean 9.6 °C (based on 1010 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Fonte Biblio. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5625   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00417 (0.00269 - 0.00646), b=3.18 (3.05 - 3.31), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Fonte Biblio. 69278):  3.5   ±0.42 se; based on food items.
Resilienza (Fonte Biblio. 120179):  Medio, tempo minimo di raddoppiamento della popolazione 1.4 - 4.4 anni (K=0.15-0.25; tm=2-4; tmax=10; Fec=10,000).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate vulnerability (43 of 100). 🛈
Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649):  High to very high vulnerability (72 of 100). 🛈
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Very high.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 43.2 [16.7, 100.8] mg/100g; Iron = 0.467 [0.228, 1.197] mg/100g; Protein = 17.5 [14.5, 20.0] %; Omega3 = 0.804 [0.404, 1.637] g/100g; Selenium = 13.8 [6.4, 30.4] μg/100g; VitaminA = 25.1 [9.0, 74.9] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.704 [0.457, 1.105] mg/100g (wet weight);