Smelt: what do this little fish and cucumber have in common and how can it be dangerous?

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Smelt is a small fish that comes in freshwater and saltwater.
Its numbers in its habitats are very high. Smelt is constantly caught for commercial purposes, but despite this, its numbers remain stable. This small fish is also very popular among amateur fishermen; there are many of it in cold seas. All varieties of the smelt family are, in principle, similar. But the Far Eastern smelt, unlike the others, has a smaller mouth with a lower jaw pushed forward, and its dorsal fin is shorter than that of other representatives of this family. In the Far East and Sakhalin, ice smelt is very popular among winter fishing enthusiasts; it is also called “voroshenka”. She is caught in an ice hole, and she freezes right there in the cold. Freshly caught smelt is characterized by the smell of cucumbers, so smelt also has another name - borage.

Smelt lives in large schools in the seas (in those places where the bottom is sandy) or lakes. When the spawning period begins, it migrates to the mouths of rivers - where there is no fast current.

Origin of the species and description

Photo: Smelt

There is confusion regarding the classification of smelt. You can often find disputes about whether this small fish belongs to the herring or salmoniformes. We can say with confidence that both are right. The confusion arises because those arguing have different classification groups in mind. As is known, when defining a particular species, they usually go from a larger taxon (group in the classification) to a lower one: superorder - order - family - genus - species or subspecies. We will focus on two classifications.

In the atlas-identifier of fish N.A. Myagkova (M. “Prosveshcheniye”, 1994) proposed the following classification. The author of the atlas identifies a superorder of clupeoids, which includes the order of herrings and the order of salmonids. The smelt family belongs to the order Salmonidae. The following is a classification by type.

European smelt. She, like all smelts, has teeth on her jaws. The line on the side is visible only up to 4 - 16 scales. The barrels are silver, the back is brown-green. The length of this species of smelt is about 20 centimeters.

Smelt. A small freshwater fish with weaker teeth than the European fish. Its body length is about 6 centimeters, sometimes a little more.

Toothed smelt. She has powerful teeth compared to other species. The line on the side is visible up to 14 - 30 scales. It reaches 35 centimeters in length. This is an anadromous and lake fish.

River smallmouth smelt. The fish of this species resembles sprat in appearance. A silver stripe is clearly visible along her entire body. Black dots can be seen on the scales and fins. Its size is about 10 centimeters.

Smallmouth smelt. This species, unlike the river smallmouth, does not have silver stripes and black dots. If there are black dots, they are difficult to distinguish. Smallmouth sea smelt is slightly larger than river smelt - its length is about 12 centimeters.

Capelin. This is a sea fish, the fattest of all types of smelt. She has silver barrels, against which the lateral line is clearly visible, which runs throughout her body, right down to the anal fin. The back of capelin is blue-green. The average length of capelin is about 20 centimeters.

In the book “Fishes of the USSR” by the authors V. Lebedeva, V. Spanovskaya, K. Savvitov, L. Sokolov and E. Tsepkin (M., “Mysl”, 1969) the order of herrings is also highlighted, in which, in addition to the salmon family, there are smelt family.

The following is a classification by genus and species:

• genus of smelt. Species – European and Asian smelt “catfish”;
• genus smallmouth smelt. Species – smallmouth smelt, or borage;
• capelin genus. Type – capelin, or uyok;
• genus golden smelt. Species: golden smelt or silver smelt.

Appearance and features

Photo: Smelt fish

Smelt is a fish that lives in numerous schools. Its appearance depends on what species it belongs to. The strength and sharpness of the teeth located on the jaws also depends on what species this small predator belongs to. The body length of smelt, depending on the species, ranges from 6 to 35 cm. The body shape is spindle-shaped, elongated; The mouth is large in proportion to the length of the fish itself. All varieties of smelt look similar: the body has a silvery tint, the back is darker than the barrels and belly and has a greenish-brown tint, the fins are either grayish or almost transparent.

But the Far Eastern smelt (also known as borage or naked), unlike the others, has a proportionally small mouth. Its scales are also small and completely transparent. The belly of the Far Eastern smelt is not silver, but white-yellow, and on the back the scales are greenish-bluish. European smelt (or smelt) has dense, relatively large scales for its size and a green-brown back. Her body configuration is narrower and elongated compared to the others.

The smelt, which lives in lakes, has colorless fins and a light back, and this allows it to camouflage itself in a lake with a muddy bottom. A characteristic difference between fish of the order Salmonidae is two dorsal fins, one of which is real, and the second, smaller one, is adipose. This is a rounded fin that does not have real fin rays and is located in the caudal region. By this feature, salmon can be easily distinguished, for example, from herring. Representatives of the smelt family, which, as mentioned above, belong to the order Salmonidae, have an adipose fin.

Where does the smelt live?

Photo: What smelt looks like

The distribution areas of fish from the smelt family are extensive. It should be noted that smelt has a good ability to acclimatize.

Asian smelt is common in the White, Baltic, and Northern seas. There is a lot of it in the Far East, in particular on Sakhalin, Chukotka, and the Kuril Islands. Fish choose coastal waters as their place of residence. Asian smelt also lives in Siberian and Far Eastern rivers.

European smelt lives in the Baltic and North Seas. In addition to the seas, she also lives in lakes - for example, in Ladoga and Onega. Due to its good acclimatization, the fish spread in the Volga River basin.

Freshwater smelt lives in many lakes in the European part of Russia, as well as in lakes in Western Europe. You can also find it in the north-west of Russia. The fish, as a rule, prefers sandy places and avoids strong currents.

The smallmouth nakedfish lives off the sea shores of the Far East, but being an anadromous fish, it also enters rivers. There is a lot of it on Sakhalin, off the southern coast of the Kuril Islands, in Kamchatka, right up to the coast of the northern part of Korea.

Using good acclimatization of smelt, it was released into lakes in the north-west of Russia and into the Ural lakes. Sometimes this fish itself chooses new places of residence. It appeared in some reservoirs - for example, Rybinsk, Gorky and Kuibyshevsky.

What does smelt eat?

Photo: Far Eastern smelt

Fish belonging to the smelt family feed actively, regardless of the time of year. But smelt is especially voracious in summer and autumn. Because these small fish have sharp teeth on their jaws, smelts are considered predators. The smelt's mouth is naturally small, but its teeth are numerous.

Small predators often prefer depth, not only to hide from other predators, but also to find food for themselves: to catch fry, smaller fish than the smelt itself. Smelt also feeds on eggs laid by other fish, planktonic algae, dipteran insects and their larvae, and crustaceans. By the way, the gluttony of this fish means that fishermen who love smelt, as a rule, are not left without a good catch. Depending on their size and the structure of the oral cavity, different types of smelt have their own food preferences.

Due to its size, which is different from larger individuals, a small naked has, accordingly, a small mouth. The teeth on the jaws of this fish are small and weak. Therefore, smallmouth smelt catches fry and eats crustaceans, larvae, and caviar. And due to the fact that the small mouth is directed upward, it also feeds on flying dipterous insects.

Since European and Asian smelt are the largest of the smelt family, they have a large mouth and strong teeth. These fish have their own feeding habits. They feed on bottom crustaceans, plankton, chironomid larvae (representatives of the order Diptera), and small fish. It happens that in the stomach of a smelt one finds its brothers - smaller smelts. This is explained by the fact that “tribesmen” eat each other in those bodies of water where there is no other food.

Hazardous properties

Only fish caught in a clean reservoir can exhibit beneficial properties. Neva smelt cannot currently be called useful. It has been noticed that the number of this fish in places where sewage is discharged into the water is much higher than in clean areas of the river. This means that smelt feeds on organic decay products. Naturally, fish caught in a polluted reservoir are literally saturated with harmful compounds (salts of heavy metals, nitrates, hydrogen sulfide, urea, arsenic). Eating such fish can cause acute food poisoning, allergic reactions, and intoxication.

Smelt is rich in nitrogenous extractive substances, which contain many purine bases. In this regard, northern fish should not be included in the diet of people suffering from gout and urolithiasis.

Allergy sufferers should consume smelt with great caution and in limited quantities.

Features of the smelt lifestyle

Photo: Smelt

Smelt is a fish that lives in large schools. This helps her not only migrate during spawning, but also escape from enemies. This fish is intolerant of water pollution and, accordingly, prefers clean water bodies for its residence. Therefore, in many heavily polluted rivers, the number of smelt, which was once a commercial fish there too, has decreased significantly. Representatives of the smelt family love depth, so they prefer deep places in lakes, rivers or seas. In addition, by varying the depth, the fish tries to hide from other predators.

Unlike the vast majority of fish, the spawning season for smelt is spring. Speaking about spawning, it is worth noting that depending on the place of their residence and the presence or absence of migration, fish are anadromous and residential. Migrants live in the seas, but rise into rivers to spawn. That is, these are fish that make spawning migrations from seas to rivers. Residential fish are those fish whose life cycle is not connected with the sea; they constantly live in rivers or lakes.

Fishing tactics

To make your future fishing productive, you don’t need to go out to the reservoir at the beginning and end of the season, because during this time period the intensity of the bite is significantly reduced. Searching for areas remote from civilization and other fishermen where trophy representatives of the species accumulate helps improve fishing results. Smelt are also attracted to places with a relatively flat bottom without sudden changes in depth.

After determining the location of the school of smelt, it is necessary to arrange 6-8 high-quality gear, placing them in a checkerboard pattern. Transverse and diagonal options work well. In the first case, the fishing rods are placed across the current. If after several minutes of fishing there is no activity, it is better to reinstall the tackle in a new place. It is also important not to forget about clearing the holes from snow or sludge.

If there is no bite in a weak current, you can play it with a simple method: you need to lower the fishing line four turns, which will significantly improve the performance of the artificial bait and increase the activity of the lazy smelt. But you cannot lower the equipment below the permissible threshold.

Reproduction of smelt

Photo: Smelt fish

Smelt reproduces by eggs. That is, in its life cycle there is a spawning period. Since the life expectancy of fish of this family is different, sexual maturity also occurs at different ages. For example, if smelt lives up to 3 years, then it becomes capable of reproduction at 1-2 years. Asian smelt and Siberian smelt, which have a lifespan of 10 or 12 years, become adults at the age of 5-7 years. For example, migratory smallmouth smelt mature at 2 or 3 years and then migrate to rivers in the spring to spawn. In its entire life, such smelt spawns no more than 3 times.

The fish often travels great distances for its size on its way to streams and rivers to lay eggs. This path is sometimes tens of kilometers long. The spawning process itself lasts for several days. Fish choose a place to lay their eggs so that there is a lot of food for future fry, as well as few predators. During spawning, the appearance of the fish changes slightly - males have tubercles on their scales, females too, but they only have them on their heads.

Smelt spawning begins at different times depending on the region. It depends on the water temperature. It usually occurs shortly after the ice melts. The water temperature should be favorable at this time - not lower than +4 degrees. But the peak of spawning occurs at a time when the water temperature becomes slightly higher (6 - 9 degrees). Fish spawn in the spring, usually in late April or early May. To lay eggs, smelt chooses shallow places with running water.

Smelts lay eggs directly on the bottom. It should be sandy, rocky or sandy-muddy. The female lays about four thousand eggs. The eggs have a sticky shell. Thanks to this, they stick to stones and underwater plants or to some objects on the bottom. In addition to the outer adhesive shell, the eggs also have an inner shell, similar to that found in all fish. When the egg swells, the outer shell bursts, releases the inner one and turns inside out. But it remains connected at one point to the inner shell. It looks like a kind of stalk on which the egg with the embryo swings freely in the water.

Dead eggs gradually come off, they are carried away by the current, and the outer shell acts as a parachute and facilitates their movement in the water. Thanks to this, the spawning grounds of smelt are freed from unnecessary eggs, and future young animals develop in more favorable conditions. At the moment the shell ruptures, the fertilized egg breaks away from the bottom. The eggs floating with the flow continue their development, and 11–16 days after the females have swept them out, thin larvae emerge from them. Their length is approximately 12 millimeters. Soon these larvae, continuing their path downstream, begin to catch food: plankton, small crustaceans.

Spawning

Smelt begins to spawn after the ice melts, when the water temperature rises to four degrees, and reaches its peak when the water is about eight degrees Celsius. The eggs are bottom-based, attached to stones and plants.

Sexual maturity of smelt is reached in the second year of life, Baltic smelt in the second - fourth, White Sea smelt in the third - fourth, Siberian - in the fifth - seventh.

In order to spawn, smelt have to climb high in rivers and streams, often over very long distances. For example, on the Elbe River this distance reaches one hundred kilometers.

In the White Sea, fish swim from hundreds of meters to three kilometers to spawn. In smallmouth smelt, sexual maturity occurs in the first or second year of life. One female is capable of laying eggs only three times during the entire period of existence.

In more southern latitudes, it begins to spawn in late April - early May, in northern latitudes - closer to June. The eggs mature in the surf zone: on algae or sandy bottom. From eight to thirty-five thousand eggs are produced at a time.

Natural enemies of smelt

Photo: What smelt looks like

This fish faces many dangers throughout its life. It feeds on fish that are significantly larger than it.

And there are more than enough of these in the expanses of water:

• salmon;
• pike;
• cod;
• burbot;
• zander;
• brown trout;
• palia;
• perch;
• Baltic herring

The smelt has, although not very reliable, a method of defense available to it from predators larger than itself. Adult smelt usually form schools. A densely populated flock behaves harmoniously and unitedly. When danger arises, fish in a school closely approach each other and form, as it were, a single whole. All individuals in the school begin to swim synchronously, while they simultaneously change the direction of movement.

Smelt eggs and larvae are also food for many fish. Especially when you consider that fish of this family spawn in the still hungry early spring. And since there is still little food for the fish that are hungry over the winter in the spring, they eat large quantities of smelt larvae and fry. Not only underwater inhabitants, but also birds are also natural enemies of smelt. During the spawning period, smelt often rises to the surface, and birds snatch it right out of the water.

Beneficial features

Low calorie content, the presence of proteins and essential fats, a large amount of minerals determine the many beneficial properties that smelt meat has:

• improves fat metabolism;
• has an anticholesterol effect;
• increases the elasticity of blood vessels;
• improves brain activity;
• promotes restoration of damaged tissues;
• stimulates hematopoiesis;
• has an anti-edematous effect;
• improves the functioning of the digestive system;
• normalizes hormonal levels.

The meat of this fish saturates the body with protein, but does not threaten a slim figure. This property of smelt is used during a diet, including a therapeutic one, for example, for diabetes or obesity.

Due to its high potassium content, smelt promotes the excretion of sodium in the urine and, accordingly, the removal of excess fluid from the body. By doing this, the fish reduces the volume of circulating blood, reducing the preload on the heart, which makes its work easier.

Calcium contained in smelt meat:

• affects the permeability of cell walls;
• compacts the vascular wall;
• takes part in the process of blood clotting;
• strengthens bones and teeth;
• affects neuromuscular excitability;
• alkalizes the biological environment of the body, providing an anti-inflammatory effect;
• activates enzymes;
• reduces sensitization of the body;
• improves the functioning of the parathyroid glands.

Calcium in smelt meat is combined with proteins and unsaturated fatty acids, which facilitates its absorption in the intestines and distribution in the body. The calcium to magnesium ratio in this fish (1:0.8) is close to ideal - 1:0.6. The iron content in this product is low, but its bioavailability is very high: almost all the iron is absorbed in the intestines.