SMELT FAMILY (Osmeridae) 

 AMERICAN SMELT 



Osmerus mordax (Mitchill) 



The American smelt is distributed along our Atlantic Coast from Labrador 

 to the vicinity of New York. They have become landlocked in many inland 

 lakes. So far as is known these fresh-water smelts occur as natives on this con- 

 tinent only in New Hampshire and Maine and perhaps in the Lake Champlain 

 basin, the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario. 



The anadromous smelt running up from the ocean and the landlocked form 

 running the tributaries of fresh-water lakes are one and the same species. Appar- 

 ently there does exist a race of large smelts which feeds mostly on small fish and 

 a smaller race which feeds largely on plankton or micro-organisms in the water. 

 Most spawning of the smelts occurs in streams although there are records of 

 smelts spawning normally in some lakes. The spawning period extends from 

 late March to early May. Smelt from the larger race, average length 1 inches, 

 usually spawn earlier than the smaller ones, average length 7 or 8 inches. As a 

 rule whether the smelts are migrating from salt water or fresh water their jour- 

 ney upstream is in most cases only a few hundred yards. The actual act of 

 spawning occurs at night in riffle areas in the running water. During the spawn- 

 ing act the male smelt, covered with tubercles, forces the female toward the bot- 

 tom. About 50 eggs are liberated at each spawning. The eggs are adhesive and 

 stick to the bottom. There is no parental care. The incubation period is around 

 10 days. The young migrate back to lake or sea in early summer. 



Although smelts are recorded up to 13 and 14 inches few are seen longer 

 than a foot. 



The smelt, taken during their spawning runs, are of interest for their direct 

 value as food to man and also as a forage fish for the larger cold-water game 

 species, i.e., the landlocked salmon and the lake trout. It seems apparent from 

 an examination of the data compiled by the Maine Fishery Surveys that the 

 Brook Trout from the Rangeley Lakes fed almost entirely on forage fish of 

 which the smelt was by far the most important, with minnows making up the 

 balance. Landlocked salmon were found to be feeding almost exclusively on 

 smelts. The reports conclude by stating that it is a well known fact that the 

 smelt is the chief food of landlocked salmon in Maine lakes. 



Smelts, like the trouts and salmons, live in deep, cold water during most 

 of the summer at temperatures generally less than 60 degrees F. There are 

 records which indicate that smelts occasionally school at the surface of lakes dur- 

 ing the warm summer months. 



30 



