Extinct in the Wild
Oncorhynchus kawamurae
Oncorhynchus kawamurae
Oncorhynchus kawamurae is a salmonid in the family Salmonidae (order Salmoniformes), recorded as Extinct in the Wild and tied to Japan.
Appearance
This species has a long, slim and flat body shape but experiences changes in color and shape depending on the sex and life stage. Kunimasu also has a distinct breeding season, fewer pyloric caeca, and more gill-rakers that distinguish it from O. Nerka.
The fish is dark olive with black spots on its back, and grows to approximately one foot (30 centimetres) in length.
Range and habitat
It is suspected even so, that Kunimasu feeds on mesopelagic or benthopelagic zooplankton similar to Himemasu inhabiting the same area. This is supported by their number of gill rakers and the observed habitat preference of the species to occupy cold, deep lake water. Kunimasu are found exclusively in landlocked freshwater habitats such as lakes, and are benthopelagic meaning they inhabit the water just above the bottom of the lake.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Habits
Kunimasu have black spots and an olive to dark grey color, except while spawning when they become a dark olive green. During their mature and pre-spawning state, both male and female Kunimasu have long, slim, and flat bodies.
During spawning, the bodies of male and female Kunimasu undergo morphological changes that differ among fish according to their size and range, but generally consist of the appearance of a humpback and concave snout. The spawning females also have the distinction of a larger mouth. Spawning occurs at depths of 30 to 40 meters in winter and spring, and during this time the physiology of the fish often changes.
In crisis
Oncorhynchus kawamurae is Extinct in the Wild on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Oncorhynchus kawamurae, Wikidata item Q3062317. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
