Oncorhynchus kawamurae Jordan & McGregor, 1925
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
Black kokanee (Oncorhynchus kawamurae), or kunimasu (国鱒; "[Japanese] national trout") in Japanese, is a species of landlocked Pacific trout in Japan that was thought to be extinct for 70 years before being rediscovered in 2010. The species was originally endemic to Lake Tazawa, Akita Prefecture, but was translocated to Lake Saiko in an attempt to save the species. These efforts were only discovered to have been successful in 2010 when nine specimens were captured by a team of researchers including a celebrity biologist, 'Sakana-kun'.
Oncorhynchus kawamurae is related to the sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) and has been earlier treated as its subspecies O. n. kawamurae. The fish is dark olive with black spots on its back, and grows to approximately one foot (30 centimetres) in length. This species has a long, slim and flat body shape but experiences changes in color and shape depending on the sex and life stage. Kunimasu also has a distinct breeding season, fewer pyloric caeca, and more gill-rakers which distinguish it from O. nerka.
Wikipedia contributors, Oncorhynchus kawamurae; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T23:24:39.758134+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Oncorhynchus kawamurae Jordan & McGregor, 1925
- Name authority
- Jordan & McGregor, 1925
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Salmoniformes
- Family
- Salmonidae
- Genus
- Oncorhynchus
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: no · 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
- orderSalmoniformes
- familySalmonidae Cuvier, 1816
- subfamilySalmoninae Cuvier, 1816
- genusOncorhynchus Suckley, 1861
- speciesOncorhynchus kawamurae Jordan & McGregor, 1925
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Oncorhynchus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Keta salmonOncorhynchus keta (Walbaum, 1792) | SalmonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Coho salmonOncorhynchus kisutch (Walbaum, 1792) | SalmonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Cherry salmonOncorhynchus masou (Brevoort, 1856) | SalmonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| rainbow troutOncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum, 1792) | SalmonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Oncorhynchus rhodurus Jordan & McGregor, 1925 | SalmonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Chinook salmonOncorhynchus tshawytscha (Walbaum, 1792) | SalmonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Mexican Golden TroutOncorhynchus chrysogaster (Needham & Gard, 1964) | SalmonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| cutthroat troutOncorhynchus clarkii (Richardson, 1836) | SalmonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Oncorhynchus gilae (Miller, 1950) | SalmonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Oncorhynchus aguabonita (Jordan, 1892) | SalmonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| humpback salmonOncorhynchus gorbuscha (Walbaum, 1792) | SalmonidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Oncorhynchus apache (Miller, 1972) | SalmonidaeChordata | 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 |
|---|---|
| Oncorhynchus nerka kawamurae Jordan & McGregor, 1925 Jordan & McGregor, 1925 | 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.
- Jordan, D. S., & Hubbs, C. L. (1925). Record of fishes obtained by David Starr Jordan in Japan, 1922. Memoirs of the Carnegie Museum, 10 (2): 93–346, Pls. 5–12. https://doi.org/10.5962/p.234844 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:49JF5. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.