Galaxiids Smelts and Relatives: Osmeriformes - Behavior And Reproduction, Conservation Status, Ayu (plecoglossus Altivelis): Species Accounts, Australian Smelt (retropinna Semoni): Species Accounts - PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS, GEOGRAPHIC RANGE, HABITAT, DI
live water fishes dwelling
Smelts, galaxiids, and their relatives are pointed at the ends. Smelts are silvery. Galaxiids and the relatives have a silvery belly but otherwise are brownish or olive with stripes or spots of various colors. These fishes are 1 to 28 inches (2.5 to 71 centimeters) long. Some have very large eyes, and some have no teeth in the upper jaw. Most galaxiids are scaleless.
Smelts, galaxiids, and their relatives live all over the world except near the equator and in Antarctica.
Smelts, galaxiids, and their relatives live in raging mountain streams, slow-flowing rivers, ponds, lakes, estuaries (EHS-chew-air-eez), or where a river meets the sea, shallow nearshore areas of the ocean, and the deep sea, where some live in open water and others on the bottom.
Smelts, galaxiids, and their relatives eat bottom-dwelling or open-water insects; crustaceans (krus-TAY-shuns), or water-dwelling animals that have jointed legs and a hard shell but no backbone; fishes; mollusks (MAH-lusks), or animals with a soft, unsegmented body usually covered by a hard shell; and worms. One species feeds on the stinging cells and tentacles of jellyfishes.
Smelts, galaxiids, and their relatives are used for commercial and recreational fishing.
Additional Topics
Scientists do not know much about the behavior of smelts, galaxiids, and their relatives. They do know that some of these fishes migrate (MY-grayt) or move to another area to spawn and that others migrate at different stages of life. During upstream migrations, some of these fishes "climb" obstacles as high as 33 feet (10 meters) by jumping and wriggling in an eel-like manner, using …
Physical characteristics: Ayu are about 12 inches (30 centimeters) long. The body is covered in small scales. The dorsal (DOOR-suhl) fin is midway between the head and the tail. These fish have an adipose (AE-dih-POS) fin that sits between the end of the dorsal fin and the start of the tail. Ayu are olive on the back and sides and white on the belly. Geographic range: Ayu live in coastal seas and …
Physical characteristics: Australian smelt are about 4 inches (10 centimeters) long. The dorsal fin that runs along the top of the body is toward the rear of the fish, and an adipose fin is present. There are no scales on the head. These fish are olive green on the back, golden to orange or purple on the sides, and silvery on the belly. Australian smelt often smell like cucumbers when fresh. Geogr…
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