Japanese smelt
Hypomesus nipponensis McAllister, 1963
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Wakasagi smelt adult (Hypomesus nipponensis), 70mm. Image cropped to remove watermark.
René Reyes · Public domain · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
Hypomesus nipponensis (Japanese smelt, in Japanese: wakasagi) is a commercial food fish native to the lakes and estuaries of northern Honshu and Hokkaido, Japan, Korea, and Sakhalin, Khabarovsk Krai, and Primorsky Krai, Russia. It has been introduced in other locations, including the San Francisco Delta of the United States. It is raised in fisheries, and is very similar in appearance to the delta smelt (H. transpacificus).
Wikipedia contributors, Hypomesus nipponensis; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T04:12:05.137914+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Hypomesus nipponensis McAllister, 1963
- Name authority
- McAllister, 1963
- Common name
- Japanese smelt
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Osmeriformes
- Family
- Osmeridae
- Genus
- Hypomesus
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: yes · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderOsmeriformes
- suborderOsmeroidei
- familyOsmeridae Regan, 1913
- genusHypomesus Gill, 1862
- speciesHypomesus nipponensis McAllister, 1963
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Hypomesus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| surf smeltHypomesus pretiosus (Girard, 1854) | OsmeridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| delta smeltHypomesus transpacificus McAllister, 1963 | OsmeridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Shishamo marine smeltHypomesus japonicus (Brevoort, 1856) | OsmeridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| osmeridae pond smeltHypomesus olidus (Pallas, 1814) | OsmeridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Hypomesus chishimaensis Saruwatari, Lopéz & Pietsch, 1997 Saruwatari, Lopéz & Pietsch, 1997 | synonym |
| Hypomesus transpacificus nipponensis McAllister, 1963 McAllister, 1963 | synonym |
| Hypomesus nippnensis McAllister, 1963 McAllister, 1963 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- McAlliter, D. E. (1963). A revision of the smelt family, Osmeridae. Biological Series, No. 71. Bulletin. National Museum of Canada No. 191: 1–53. Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3NXD8. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.