Ayu sweetfish

Ayu sweetfish
Conservation status
Data Deficient  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Osmeriformes
Family:	Plecoglossidae
Genus:	Plecoglossus Temminck & Schlegel, 1846
Species:	P. altivelis
Binomial name
Plecoglossus altivelis (Temminck & Schlegel, 1846)
Synonyms
Salmo altivelis (Temminck & Schlegel, 1846) Plecoglossus altivelis altivelis (Temminck & Schlegel, 1846) Plecoglossus altivelis ryukyuensis (Nishida, 1988) Plecoglossus ryukyuensis (Nishida, 1988) Plecoglossus altivelis chinensis (Wu & Shan, 2005)

The ayu sweetfish (Plecoglossus altivelis), ayu (アユ, 鮎, 年魚, 香魚) or sweetfish, is a species of fish. It is the only species in the genus Plecoglossus and family Plecoglossidae. It is a relative of the smelts and other fish in the order Osmeriformes.

Native to East Asia, it is distributed in the northwestern Pacific Ocean along the coast of Hokkaidō in Japan southward to the Korean Peninsula, China, Hong Kong and northern Vietnam. It is amphidromous, moving between coastal marine waters and freshwater lakes and rivers. A few landlocked populations also exist in lakes in Japan such as Biwa. Original wild populations in Taiwan became extinct in 1968 due to pollution and present extant populations were reintroduced from Japan in the 1990s.^[1][2]

The name "sweetfish" was inspired by the sweetness of its flesh. In reference to its typical one-year lifespan, it is also written as 年魚 ("year-fish").^[3] Some individuals live two to three years.^[1] The ayu is the prefectural fish of Gunma Prefecture and Gifu Prefecture.^[4]