''Stenodus nelma'', known alternatively as the nelma, sheefish, siifish, inconnu or connie, is a commercial species of
freshwater whitefish
The freshwater whitefish are fishes of the subfamily Coregoninae, which contains whitefishes (both freshwater and anadromous) and ciscoes, and is one of three subfamilies in the salmon family Salmonidae. Apart from the subfamily Coregoninae, the ...
in the family
Salmonidae
Salmonidae is a family of ray-finned fish that constitutes the only currently extant family in the order Salmoniformes . It includes salmon (both Atlantic and Pacific species), trout (both ocean-going and landlocked), chars, freshwater whitefis ...
. It is widespread in the Arctic rivers from the
Kola Peninsula
sjd, Куэлнэгк нёа̄ррк
, image_name= Kola peninsula.png
, image_caption= Kola Peninsula as a part of Murmansk Oblast
, image_size= 300px
, image_alt=
, map_image= Murmansk in Russia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Murmansk Oblas ...
(
White Sea
The White Sea (russian: Белое море, ''Béloye móre''; Karelian and fi, Vienanmeri, lit. Dvina Sea; yrk, Сэрако ямʼ, ''Serako yam'') is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is su ...
basin) eastward across Siberia to the
Anadyr River
The Anadyr (russian: Ана́дырь; Yukaghir: Онандырь; ckt, Йъаайваам) is a river in the far northeast of Siberia which flows into the Gulf of Anadyr of the Bering Sea and drains much of the interior of Chukotka Autonomous ...
and also in the North American basins of the
Yukon River
The Yukon River (Gwichʼin language, Gwich'in: ''Ųųg Han'' or ''Yuk Han'', Central Alaskan Yup'ik language, Yup'ik: ''Kuigpak'', Inupiaq language, Inupiaq: ''Kuukpak'', Deg Xinag language, Deg Xinag: ''Yeqin'', Hän language, Hän: ''Tth'echù' ...
and
Mackenzie River.
[Eschmeyer F]
Catalog of Fishes
(Search: Stenodus (species)) California Academy of Sciences. (15 March 2012 version)
Appearance and lifestyle
''Stenodus nelma'' is an anadromous fish, up to in length.
[ The fish has a large mouth with a protruding lower jaw and a high and pointed ]dorsal fin
A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...
. It is generally silver in color with a green, blue or brown back. The meat is white, flaky and somewhat oily. An adult fish weighs up to .
The fish eat plankton
Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) that are unable to propel themselves against a Ocean current, current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankt ...
for their first year of life and then become predator
Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...
s of smaller fish. They live in lake
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...
s and river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...
s and in the brackish water
Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estua ...
at the outlets of rivers into the ocean. They may migrate more than to their upriver spawning grounds, but some populations spend their entire life in fresh water and do not migrate.
Systematics
''Stenodus nelma'' has previously been considered a subspecies of ''Stenodus leucichthys
''Stenodus leucichthys'' is a species of freshwater whitefish in the family Salmonidae. In the strict sense its natural distribution is restricted to the Caspian Sea basin, and it is known as beloribitsa (literally meaning "the fish that is whit ...
'' (''S. leucichthys nelma'').
The typical ''Stenodus leucichthys'' (beloribitsa) is a landlocked Eurasian species restricted to the Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...
basin, and now extinct in the wild
A species that is extinct in the wild (EW) is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as known only by living members kept in captivity or as a naturalized population outside its historic range due ...
.
References
External links
"Mackenzie River Ecosystem: A Dynamic Delta: Inconnu: The "Unknown" Fish"
GreatCanadianRivers.com
Illustration by N.N. Kondrakov. NOAA Photo Library.
Stenodus
Freshwater fish of the Arctic
Fish of the Arctic Ocean
Fish described in 1773
Fish of Russia
Fish of the United States
{{Salmonidae-stub