surf smelt
Hypomesus pretiosus (Girard, 1854)
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.
Open encyclopedia reference
Hypomesus pretiosus, or surf smelt, is a marine smelt with a range from Prince William Sound, Alaska to Long Beach, California, although its population declines south of San Francisco. The surf smelt grows to be about 10 inches in southern waters, and 83⁄4 inches in northern waters near Canada. On average, surf smelt weigh about 10 to the pound.
Spawning occurs in the nighttime, which is why it is sometimes called the night smelt, peaking in the months from May to October. With a maximum age of three to four years, some females will spawn at the age of one, and all will spawn at the age of two. Females lay from 1,500–36,000 sticky eggs in the surf zone per spawn, which they may do three to five or more times in a season.
H. pretiosus feed on polychaete worms, larval fish and jellyfish, but they primarily feed on small crustaceans. They can be important parts of salmon and halibut diets, and are the most economically important fish among California smelts. Around 225,000 kilograms are harvested there every year.
Wikipedia contributors, Hypomesus pretiosus; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:53:49.826885+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Hypomesus pretiosus (Girard, 1854)
- Name authority
- (Girard, 1854)
- Common name
- surf 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: no · 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 pretiosus (Girard, 1854)
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese smeltHypomesus nipponensis McAllister, 1963 | 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 pretiosus pretiosus (Girard, 1854) (Girard, 1854) | synonym |
| Argentina pretiosa Girard, 1854 Girard, 1854 | 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.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=279422 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
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:3NXDD. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.