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Spirinchus starksi

Night Smelt
NS NatureServeStatus object (GNR)
Collection Details

Specimens

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Records

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Taxonomic Hierarchy

Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes) Salmoniformes Osmeridae (Smelts) Spirinchus Spirinchus starksi (Night Smelt)

Description

This species account was compiled from FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.) and processed using AI-assisted text extraction. It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting. When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page. Learn more about our species accounts.

Characters

Body shape: elongated. In males, pectoral fins longer; tuberculate on head, scales, and lower fins (Ref. 6885). Green with silvery sides (Ref. 6885).

Distribution

Northeast Pacific: southeastern Alaska to Point Arguello in central California, USA.

Habitat Associations

Marine. benthopelagic.

Biology

Feeds on small shrimp-like crustaceans (Ref. 4563). Caught during the spawning season (Ref. 2850).
Max length: 23.0 cm TL; max age: 3 years.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none. Oviparous (Ref. 35792). Spawns in the surf at night (Ref. 2850).
IUCN Red List Status: N.E. (N.E.). Resilience: High (tmax=3).

Commercial or Environmental Importance

Fisheries: commercial; gamefish.

References

Eschmeyer, W.N., E.S. Herald and H. Hammann (1983) A field guide to Pacific coast fishes of North America. Boston (MA, USA): Houghton Mifflin Company. xii+336 p.
Hart, J.L. (1973) Pacific fishes of Canada. Bull. Fish. Res. Board Can. 180:740 p.
Moser, H.G. (1996) Osmeridae: smelts. p. 240-243. In H.G. Moser (ed.) The early stages of fishes in the California Current Region. California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) Atlas No. 33. 1505 p.
Love, M.S., C.W. Mecklenburg, T.A. Mecklenburg and L.K. Thorsteinson (2005) Resource inventory of marine and estuarine fishes of the West Coast and Alaska: A checklist of North Pacific and Arctic Ocean species from Baja California to the Alaska-Yukon border. U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, Seattle, Washington, 98104.

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