Just curious...
Most other fish migrations from sea to river are mature adults returning to spawn eg salmon, sea trout etc) but thats not the case with whitebait is it as its juviniles that are returning ?
Adult whitebait spawns in suitable wet lands.
juviniles ? head out to sea
whitebait come back up the river (1 year later ?)
whitebait disperse through out wetlands and grow into adults before spawning again ? How long does this take ?
Is this basically correct ?
Also noticed a few of the smelt i caught at the mouth of lake ellesmere are completely clear like giant whitebait, looking closely you can see the blood pumping from the heart in little squirts and they have broght blue eyes. But at the other end of the lake they are colored up, a lot darker with distinctive blue sheen and no internal organs visible. Both types smell strongly of cucumber, are there multiple species of smelt or is it just the difference between sea and fresh water habitat ?