See Also: Smelt(medicine)
smelt(1)(dictionary)
smelt(2)(dictionary)
smelt(encyclopedia)
smelt 1, verb(dictionary)
smelt 2, verb(dictionary)

smelt (sh)




Any of certain slender, silvery, carnivorous, food fishes (family Osmeridae) having a small fleshy fin.

Smelts live in cold northern seas, and most species spawn a short distance upstream. The American smelt (Osmerus mordax), introduced from the Atlantic to the Great Lakes, is the largest smelt, about 15 in. (38 cm) long. The European smelt (O. eperlanus) is similar. Among Pacific species are the rainbow herring, capelin, and eulachon, or candlefish, which is so oily at spawning time that it can be dried and burned as a candle. Silversides (see grunion) and other unrelated fishes are sometimes called smelts.