Oncorhynchus kawamurae
Species of fish / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Black kokanee (Oncorhynchus kawamurae), or kunimasu (国鱒, クニマス, "[Japanese] national trout") in Japanese, is a species of landlocked Pacific trout in Japan that was thought to be extinct for 70 years before being rediscovered in 2010.[2] The species was originally endemic to Lake Tazawa, Akita Prefecture, but was translocated to Lake Saiko in an attempt to save the species.[2] These efforts were only discovered to have been successful in 2010 when nine specimens were captured by a team of researchers[2] including a celebrity biologist, 'Sakana-kun'.[3]
Oncorhynchus kawamurae | |
---|---|
A juvenile kunimasu at the Fuji Yusui no Sato Aquarium | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Salmoniformes |
Family: | Salmonidae |
Genus: | Oncorhynchus |
Species: | O. kawamurae |
Binomial name | |
Oncorhynchus kawamurae D. S. Jordan & E. A. McGregor, 1925 | |
Oncorhynchus kawamurae is related to the sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) and has been earlier treated as its subspecies O. nerka kawamurae.[4] The fish is dark olive with black spots on its back, and grows to approximately one foot (30 centimetres) in length.[5] This species has a long, slim and flat body shape but experiences changes in color and shape depending on the sex and life stage.[2][6] Kunimasu also has a distinct breeding season, fewer pyloric caeca, and more gill-rakers which distinguish it from Oncorhynchus nerka.[2][6]