Smelt

General

Salmonids

There are many species that belong to the Salmonids or (Protacanthopterygii). Did you know trouts, smelts, and even pikes belong to the Salmon family? Salmonids occur in either salt and freshwater. Most species are well-specialized predators and live in temperate climate zones.  Salmonids are ray-finned fishes and can be distinguished by the ‘fat-fin’ between the backfin and tail. They do not have spikes and the pelvic and pectoral fin are separated.

Salmonids are sold farmed and wildcaught. Wildcaught salmon comes from the Pacific. Almost all Atlantic salmon on sold is farmed. Since the 90s the farming of salmon increased dramatically. Norway, chile, Scotland, Canada and the Faroe islands are important farming countries for salmon. In both, wild-caught and farmed salmon problems in sustainability are prevalent.

Smelt

Smelt (Osmerus eperlanus) belongs to the salmonid family (Salmonidae) and has an elongated body with silver flanks and a relatively large upper beak with teeth. Juveniles are almost transparent. Between the caudal and dorsal fin is an adipose fin. Smelt has a characteristic smell of cucumber. Smelts that live exclusively in fresh water usually grow to about 15 centimeters, while the sea-dwelling smelt can grow up to 45 centimeters. In the Netherlands, smelt is nowadays a fairly rare species in fresh water, its now more commonly found in salt water. In the past, the smelt spawned in huge numbers upstream of the estuaries Haringvliet and Zuiderzee and was then considered an important consumption fish.