Delta smelt, Hypomesus transpacificus, is an endangered slender-bodied smelt, about 5 to 7 cm (2.0 to 2.8 in) long, of the Osmeridae family. Endemic to the upper Sacramento-San Joaquin estuary of California, it mainly inhabits the freshwater-saltwater mixing zone of the estuary, except during its spawning season, which primarily takes place during the early spring months from March until May.
Because of its one-year life cycle and relatively low fecundity, it is very susceptible to changes in the environmental conditions of its native habitat. A large number of these changes have led to a fluctuating population decline, as measured since 1959. Efforts to protect the endangered fish from further decline have focused on limiting or modifying the large-scale pumping activities of state and federal water projects at the southern end of the estuary.
Read more about Delta Smelt: Taxonomy and Evolution, Habitat, Life Cycle, Endangered Status, Court Protection
Famous quotes containing the word smelt:
“Have you seen but a bright lily grow
Before rude hands have touch’d it?
Have you mark’d but the fall of the snow
Before the soil hath smutch’d it?
Have you felt the wool of the beaver,
Or swan’s down ever?
Or have smelt of the bud of the brier,
Or the nard in the fire?
Or have tasted the bag of the bee?
O so white, O so soft, O so sweet is she!”
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637)