rainbow smelt
Osmerus mordax (Mitchill, 1814)
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
The rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax) is a North American species of fish of the family Osmeridae. Walleye, trout, and other larger fish prey on these smelt. The rainbow smelt prefer juvenile ciscoes, zooplankton such as calanoid copepods (Leptodiaptomus ashlandi, L. minutus, L. sicilis), and other small organisms, but are aggressive and will eat almost any fish they find. They are anadromous spring spawners and prefer clean streams with light flow and light siltation. The rainbow smelt face several barriers. They are weak swimmers and struggle to navigate fish ladders preventing them from making it past dams to the headwater streams where they spawn. The rise in erosion and dams helped to decimate the smelt population in the 1980s. There are currently plans to try to reduce damming and to help control erosion.
Wikipedia contributors, Rainbow smelt; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T03:33:43.914047+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Osmerus mordax (Mitchill, 1814)
- Name authority
- (Mitchill, 1814)
- Common name
- rainbow smelt
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Osmeriformes
- Family
- Osmeridae
- Genus
- Osmerus
- 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
- genusOsmerus Linnaeus, 1758
- speciesOsmerus mordax (Mitchill, 1814)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Osmerus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| European smeltOsmerus eperlanus (Linnaeus, 1758) | 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 |
|---|---|
| Atherina mordax Mitchill, 1814 Mitchill, 1814 | synonym |
| Osmerus spectrum Cope, 1870 Cope, 1870 | synonym |
| Osmerus mordax mordax (Mitchill, 1814) (Mitchill, 1814) | synonym |
| Osmerus eperlanus mordax (Mitchill, 1814) (Mitchill, 1814) | 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=126737 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:74ZTP. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.