Eulachon

The eulachon, or the candlefish, is a small anadromous species of smelt that spawns in some of the major river systems along the Pacific coast of North America from northern California to Alaska.

Eaten and traditionally important. It's so fatty when spawning, up to 15 percent of its body weight in fat, that a dried fish on a wick can be burned like a candle, which is how it got the name candlefish. Indigenous peoples render it into eulachon oil traded inland along grease trails, and also fry, dry, smoke, or can it.

Eulachon are anadromous. They spend most of their adult lives in the ocean and return to natal freshwater rivers to spawn and die. They spawn in major river systems along the Pacific coast of North America from northern California to Alaska.