Oncorhynchus

Oncorhynchus Fossil range: Late Miocene - Recent
Sockeye Salmon, Oncorhynchus nerka Female (above) and male in mating season Note male with kype (hooked jaws)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Superclass:	Osteichthyes
Class:	Actinopterygii
Subclass:	Neopterygii
Infraclass:	Teleostei
Superorder:	Protacanthopterygii
Order:	Salmoniformes
Family:	Salmonidae
Genus:	Oncorhynchus Suckley, 1861
Species
Around one dozen, see text.

Oncorhynchus is a genus of fish in the family Salmonidae; it contains the Pacific salmons and Pacific trouts. The name of the genus is derived from the Greek onkos ("hook") and rynchos ("nose"), in reference to the "kype" - the hooked jaw of males in mating season.

Range

Salmon and trout with ranges generally in waters draining to the Pacific Ocean are members of the genus. Their range extends from Beringia southwards, roughly to Japan in the west and Mexico to the east. In North America, some subspecies of O. clarki are native to the landlocked Great Basin, while others are native to the Rio Grande and western tributaries of the Mississippi River Basin which drain to the Gulf of Mexico, rather than to the Pacific.

Unlike many trout species of the mainly European genus Salmo, many Oncorhynchus are anadromous (migratory) and die after spawning. Some species of char (Salvelinus genus) are native to Pacific waters and are also referred to as trout.

Systematics

• Oncorhynchus chrysogaster – Mexican golden trout
• Oncorhynchus clarkii – Cutthroat trout
  • Oncorhynchus clarki alvordensis – Alvord cutthroat trout (extinct)
  • Oncorhynchus clarki bouvieri – Yellowstone cutthroat trout
  • Oncorhynchus clarki behnkei – Snake River fine-spotted cutthroat trout
  • Oncorhynchus clarki clarki – Coastal cutthroat trout
    • Oncorhynchus clarki clarki f. crescentii – Lake Crescent cutthroat trout, Crescenti trout (sometimes O. c. crescentii)
  • Oncorhynchus clarki henshawi – Lahontan cutthroat trout
  • Oncorhynchus clarki lewisi – Westslope cutthroat trout, Black-spotted cutthroat trout
  • Oncorhynchus clarki macdonaldi – Yellowfin cutthroat trout (extinct)
  • Oncorhynchus clarki pleuriticus – Colorado River cutthroat trout
  • Oncorhynchus clarki seleniris – Paiute cutthroat trout
  • Oncorhynchus clarki stomias – Greenback cutthroat trout
  • Oncorhynchus clarki utah – Bonneville cutthroat trout
  • Oncorhynchus clarki virginalis – Rio Grande cutthroat trout
• Oncorhynchus gilae – Gila trout and Apache trout
  • Oncorhynchus gilae gilae – Gila trout
  • Oncorhynchus (gilae) apache – Apache trout, Arizona trout
• Oncorhynchus gorbuscha – Pink salmon, Humpback salmon
• Oncorhynchus keta – Chum salmon, Dog salmon, Keta salmon, Silverbrite salmon
• Oncorhynchus kisutch – Coho salmon, Silver salmon, "silvers"
• Oncorhynchus masou – Seema, Cherry salmon, Japanese salmon, Masu salmon, "sema", "sima"
  • Oncorhynchus masou formosanum – Taiwanese salmon, Formosan salmon
  • Oncorhynchus masou ishikawai – Satsukimasu salmon, Red-spotted masu salmon, amago (formerly O. ishikawai, sometimes included in O. masou masou)
  • Oncorhynchus masou var. iwame – Iwame trout, Markless trout (formerly O. iwame)
  • Oncorhynchus masou masou – Yamame
  • Oncorhynchus masou rhodurus – Biwa trout
• Oncorhynchus mykiss – Rainbow trout, Steelhead, Ocean trout, Redband trout
  • Oncorhynchus (mykiss) aguabonita – Golden trout
  • Oncorhynchus mykiss gairdnerii – Columbia River redband trout
  • Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus – Coastal rainbow trout
    • Oncorhynchus mykiss irideus f. beardsleei – Beardslee trout, "blueback" (sometimes O. m. beardsleei)
  • Oncorhynchus mykiss newberrii – Great Basin redband trout
• Oncorhynchus nerka – Sockeye salmon, Red salmon, Blueback salmon, Kokanee
• Oncorhynchus tshawytscha – Chinook salmon, Blackmouth, Black salmon, Chub salmon, Columbia River salmon, Hookbill salmon, King salmon, Quinnat salmon, Spring salmon, Tyee salmon, Winter salmon

Oncorhynchus rastrosus, the Sabertooth salmon (sometimes called Smilodonichthys), was a 9-foot-(3 meter-)long species known from Late Miocene to Pleistocene fossil.^[1]

Footnotes

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Oncorhynchus

• Behnke, Robert J. (2002): Trout and Salmon of North America. Free Press, 2002.
• FishBase (2006): Oncorhynchus species. Version of 2006-MAR-14. Retrieved 2008-JAN-31.
• Sepkoski, Jack (2002): Osteichthyes. In: A compendium of fossil marine animal genera. Bulletin of American Paleontology 364: 560. HTML fulltext
• Stearley, R.F. & Smoth, G.R. (1993): Phylogeny of the Pacific trout and salmon (Oncorhynchus) and the genera of family Salmonidae. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 122(1): 1-33. DOI:10.1577/1548-8659(1993)122<0001:POTPTA>2.3.CO;2 HTML fulltext
• Stephenson, S.A. (2005) The distribution of Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) in the Canadian western Arctic. http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Library/321160.pdf

External links

• US mulls Pacific salmon fishing ban