EULACHON (CANDLEFISH)
DID YOU KNOW: When dried and fitted with a wick a eulachon can
be burned like a candle.
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Thaleichthys pacificus,
from Greek thaleia meaning rich, ichthys meaning fish, and
pacificus meaning of the pacific.
COMMON NAMES: Eulachon, candlefish, and oilfish.
DESCRIPTION: The eulachon is bluish on its upper half with silvery
white sides and belly. The body is long and thin with a large mouth and
skinny head. The average adult length is about 9 inches.
LIFECYCLE: The eulachon is an anadromous species, leaving the
ocean to ascend rivers and streams to spawn. Adults enter fresh water and
spawn from February to mid-May. Typically, males enter the rivers first,
followed shortly by the females. Most spawning eulachon are three years
old though they can live up to five years. Spawning is done in large masses
and usually during the night. The females' eggs and the males' sperm are
dispersed together into the water column and the fertilized eggs quickly
attach to gravel, wood or the sandy bottom of rivers. Most adults die shortly
after spawning. The 7,000 to 60,000 eggs per female hatch in five to six
weeks. Because of its small size the larval eulachon are rapidly swept
downstream and out into the estuaries and open ocean.
RANGE: Northern California to the eastern Bering Sea and the
Pribilof Islands.
HABITAT AND ECOLOGY: All life stages of the eulachon feed primarily
on plankton. The eulachon play an important role as prey or food for other
animals. It is heavily preyed upon during spawning migrations, or while
schooled up, by spiny dogfish, sturgeon, Pacific halibut, whales, sea lions,
and birds. In the ocean, it is also preyed on by salmon and other large
predatory fishes.
Young larval eulachon in estuaries and near shore ocean areas are sensitive
to marine pollution and toxic runoff from agriculture and urbanization.
Droughts and industrial pollution have been thought to heavily impact the
species' ability to spawn. If conditions are not right, the eulachon will
not return to spawn, and will instead stay in the ocean to return in another
year when more desirable or favorable spawning conditions exist.
ECONOMIC VALUE: A commercial fishery in the Pacific Northwest
has existed for eulachon as far back as the 1800's. Commercial landings
of the eulachon have been fairly stable for many years. The eulachon is
a very popular food fish and supports commercial, recreational, and tribal
fisheries throughout the Pacific Northwest. Native Americans have traditionally
used the eulachon for food and for its very high oil content. Once extracted,
the valuable oil was used for seasoning, preserving food, and for trading.
Revised 12/16/96
