Oncorhynchus

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Oncorhynchus
Fossil range: Late Miocene - Recent
Sockeye Salmon, Oncorhynchus nerkaFemale (above) and male in mating seasonNote male with kype (hooked jaws)
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 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. Their range extends from Beringia southwards, roughly to Japan and the southwestern USA.

Salmon and trout with ranges in the Pacific Ocean waters are members of the genus. Unlike many trout species of the mainly European genus Salmo, most Oncorhynchus are anadromous (migratory) and die after spawning.

Contents

[edit] Systematics

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

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Sepkoski (2002)

[edit] References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
  • 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

[edit] External links