Japanese smelt

Hypomesus nipponensis

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth0 m
Water temperature6–23 °C
Best monthsJuly and August
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) Hawk T., some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Hypomesus nipponensis is a commercial food fish native to the lakes and estuaries of northern Honshu and Hokkaido, Japan, Korea, and Sakhalin, Khabarovsk Krai, and Primorsky Krai, Russia. It has been introduced in other locations, including the San Francisco Delta of the United States. It is raised in fisheries, and is very similar in appearance to the delta smelt.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Hypomesus nipponensis”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 11 records
February: 17 records
March: 9 records
April: 7 records
May: 7 records
June: 2 records
July: 22 records
August: 33 records
September: 9 records
October: 5 records
November: 6 records
December: 11 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0 m · Deepest record: 1 m

0–10 m: 26 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 6–23 °C

6–8 °C: 31 records
8–10 °C: 1 records
10–12 °C: 2 records
12–14 °C: 1 records
14–16 °C: 0 records
16–18 °C: 0 records
18–20 °C: 0 records
20–22 °C: 0 records
22–24 °C: 1 records

Photos

Names and classification

English: Japanese smelt, Wakasagi, Japanese Pond Smelt, wakasagi, Wakasagi smelt

Names in 3 more languages

Spanish: Eperlano de charca japonés
Japanese: Wakasagi, チシマワカサギ, ワカサギ
Korean: 빙어

Other scientific names: Hypomesus chishimaensis, Hypomesus nippnensis

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
796 open-data records from 1947 to 2010.
Species data updated November 3, 2026.

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