Species that are considered high risk have a well-documented history of invasiveness in at least one location globally, and a high or medium climate match to the contiguous United States.
Osmerus eperlanus is a species of smelt native to northern and northwestern Europe and the British Isles. Most populations are anadromous, but landlocked populations also exist. This species has a documented history of invasiveness in deep cold lacustrine systems in Russia. In one Russian lake, substantial predation of O. eperlanus on coregonid larvae initially reduced the coregonid catch by a factor of almost 1000, and the whitefish population has still not recovered even though the population of O. eperlanus has declined. In another lake, introduction of O. eperlanus caused substantial changes to fish community structure and trophic relationships. However, most attempts at introduction of O. eperlanus have failed. Some sources suggest a small number of occurrences in the U.S., but no detailed information is available on these occurrences and they do not appear to represent established populations. Climate matching indicated the contiguous U.S. has a high climate match with established O. eperlanus populations. Overall risk posed by this species is high.
Publication date
Type of document
High Risk
Program
