92.4 mm in SL, collected by gill net at 15 m in Wilton Pond, Maine, on 29 August 1979 by 

 K. Farrell as the neotype of Osmerus spectrum Cope, 1870; the neotype was collected at the 

 type locality of the species. The neotype is illustrated in Fig. 1. The neotype has the 

 following characters additional to those in Table 1: body depth 15.5 mm, head length 

 21.4 mm, primary dorsal rays 10, primary anal fin rays 15, pelvic fin rays 8, pectoral fin 

 rays 12, pored lateral line scales 16, longest gill raker 2/3 of orbit diameter, pelvic 

 origin slightly in advance of dorsal origin, maxillary ends just before hind edge of pupil, 

 lower jaw projects beyond upper, gonads undeveloped. 



Osmerus spectrum Cope, 1870 has been referred to by a number of names in the vernacular: 

 Wilton Pond smelt, small smelt, small race of smelt, and dwarf smelt. Because we feel that 

 none of these are appropriate, we coin the name pygmy smelt as its English vernacular, and 

 Vianney Legendre has suggested eperlan nain as its French vernacular. 



Key to lacustrine Osmerus in eastern North America 



1 (2) Standard length less than 135 mm. Gill rakers usually 

 33-36. Orbit diameter 4.4-6.5% of standard length 

 pygmy smelt - Osmerus spectrum Cope, 1870 



2 (1) Standard length up to at least 200 mm. Gill 



rakers usually 28-32. Orbit diameter 7.0-11.3% of standard 



length rainbow smelt - Osmerus mordax (Mitchill, 1815) 



Distribution 



We have established that Osmerus spectrum is native to Heney Lake, southern Quebec, Lake 

 Utopia, southern New Brunswick, to Wilton Pond and Green Lake, southern Maine, and has been 

 transplanted to Meach and Ouimet lakes, Quebec (Figure 6). Its existence elsewhere is 

 suggested by literature reports. 



Other lakes have been reported as having two races or sizes of smelts. Whether these 

 represent Osmerus mordax and 0. spectrum or two age classes remains to be seen. But these 

 lakes deserve priority in investigating the range of the pygmy smelt. Delisle and Veilleux 

 (1969) report two populations, dwarf and giant, in Lake Champlain (Quebec, Vermont and 

 New York), and Lake Kenogami, Quebec (Jonquiere-Chicoutimi County). They further report 

 allopatric dwarf populations in Lac Grobois (= Batiscan, Laviolette County), Lac Perchaude 

 (St-Maurice County), and Lac Clay and Lac Cole (both in Papineau County), all these lakes 

 being in Quebec. 



According to Kendall (1927), the following lakes in Maine support sympatric populations 

 of large-sized and small-sized smelts: Sebago Lake (Cumberland County), Cochnewagn Pond 

 (Kennebec County), and Grand Lake (Washington County, also in York County, New Brunswick). 

 He also gave several reports of allopatric occurrences of small-sized smelt. Aside from the 

 Lake Kenogami record, Quebec, most of these potential records are within the range 

 circumscribed by verified records of the pygmy smelt. 



Until the pygmy smelt is proven to be widespread in its distribution, its native 

 occurrence in only two lakes in Canada, lakes Heney and Utopia, strongly suggests that these 



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