Coregonus
Encyclopedia
Coregonus is a diverse genus
of fish
in the salmon
family
(family Salmonidae
). The type species
is the common whitefish
(Coregonus lavaretus). The Coregonus species are known as whitefishes. It contains at least 68 described extant species.
The Arctic cisco
(C. autumnalis), the Bering cisco
(C. laurettae), and the least cisco
(C. sardinella) are anadromous, moving between salt water
and fresh water
.
Many species in this genus, especially from the Great Lakes
and the Alpine lakes of Europe
, have gone extinct over the past century or are endangered
. All Coregonus species are protected under appendix III of the Bern Convention.
:
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
in the salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
(family Salmonidae
Salmonidae
Salmonidae is a family of ray-finned fish, the only living family currently placed in the order Salmoniformes. It includes salmon, trout, chars, freshwater whitefishes and graylings...
). The type species
Type species
In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...
is the common whitefish
Common whitefish
Coregonus lavaretus is a species of freshwater whitefish, in the family Salmonidae. It is the type species of its genus Coregonus.There are widely different concepts about the number of species in the genus Coregonus and the delimitation of the species Coregonus lavaretus.-Lavaret:In a narrow...
(Coregonus lavaretus). The Coregonus species are known as whitefishes. It contains at least 68 described extant species.
The Arctic cisco
Arctic Cisco
Arctic cisco is an anadromous species of freshwater whitefish that inhabits the Arctic parts of Siberia, Alaska and Canada. It also has a close freshwater relative in several lakes of Ireland, known as the pollan, alternatively regarded as conspecific with it, or as a distinct species...
(C. autumnalis), the Bering cisco
Bering cisco
The Bering cisco or Lauretta whitefish is a freshwater whitefish found in Alaska and part of Russia. It is often considered to be the same species as the more common Arctic cisco .- Description :...
(C. laurettae), and the least cisco
Least cisco
The least cisco, Coregonus sardinella, is a freshwater species of fish that inhabits some marginal seas of the Arctic. It is found from the Murchison River in Canada to Bristol Bay in Alaska, and in the Russian Arctic from the Kara Sea eastwards across the Laptev Sea, the East Siberian Sea, the...
(C. sardinella) are anadromous, moving between salt water
Seawater
Seawater is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% . This means that every kilogram of seawater has approximately of dissolved salts . The average density of seawater at the ocean surface is 1.025 g/ml...
and fresh water
Fresh Water
Fresh Water is the debut album by Australian rock and blues singer Alison McCallum, released in 1972. Rare for an Australian artist at the time, it came in a gatefold sleeve...
.
Many species in this genus, especially from the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...
and the Alpine lakes of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, have gone extinct over the past century or are endangered
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
. All Coregonus species are protected under appendix III of the Bern Convention.
Species
There is much uncertainty and confusion in the classification of the many of species of this genus. The following are the species as listed by FishBaseFishBase
FishBase is a comprehensive database of information about fish species . It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web...
:
- Coregonus albellusCoregonus albellusCoregonus albellus, also called the Autumn brienzlig, is a species of whitefish belonging to the family Salmonidae. It is endemic to Lakes Thun and Brienz in Switzerland's Interlaken region, where it is pelagic in deep water. The maximum length recorded for this species is ....
, autumn brienzlig - Coregonus albulaCoregonus albulaThe vendace, Coregonus albula, is a species of freshwater whitefish in the family Salmonidae. It is also known as the European cisco. It is found in lakes in northern Europe, especially Finland, Sweden, Russia and Estonia, and in some lakes of the United Kingdom, northern Germany and Poland...
, vendace - † Coregonus alpenae, longjaw ciscoLongjaw ciscoThe longjaw cisco was a deep water cisco or chub, usually caught at depths of 100 metres or more from Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Erie. Its Latin name was derived from Alpena, a city in Michigan...
(extinct) - Coregonus alpinusCoregonus alpinusCoregonus alpinus is a species of freshwater whitefish in the family Salmonidae. It is endemic to Lake Thun, in Switzerland's Interlaken region, where it is found in deep water. The maximum length recorded for this species is . It feeds on chironomids and other bottom-dwelling invertebrates...
, kropfer - Coregonus anaulorumCoregonus anaulorumCoregonus anaulorum is a species of freshwater whitefish in the family Salmonidae. It is found in the rivers and estuaries of Russia's Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and adjacent Koryakia of the Kamchatka Krai, especially the Anadyr River and its estuary, the Anadyrskiy Liman. It is a benthopelagic...
- Coregonus arenicolus
- Coregonus artedi, cisco
- Coregonus atterensis
- Coregonus autumnalis, Arctic ciscoArctic CiscoArctic cisco is an anadromous species of freshwater whitefish that inhabits the Arctic parts of Siberia, Alaska and Canada. It also has a close freshwater relative in several lakes of Ireland, known as the pollan, alternatively regarded as conspecific with it, or as a distinct species...
- Coregonus baicalensisCoregonus baicalensisCoregonus baicalensis is a species of freshwater whitefish in the family Salmonidae. It is endemic to the Russian Federation's Lake Baikal where it is found on the bottom . The maximum length recorded for this species is . The average length is a few centimetres above . It is also known as the...
- Coregonus baunti
- Coregonus bavaricusCoregonus bavaricusCoregonus bavaricus, known as the kilch or Ammersee-Kilch in German, is a species of freshwater whitefish in the family Salmonidae. It is endemic to the Ammersee lake in Bavaria, where it is pelagic in deep water. It is considered a critically endangered species by the IUCN Red List, since it is...
- Coregonus bezola, bezouleBezouleThe bezoule was a species of freshwater whitefish in the family Salmonidae. It was endemic to the Lac du Bourget in Savoie, France where it was pelagic in deep water. The maximum length recorded for this species is . It is known from specimens collected in the late nineteenth century, and was...
- Coregonus candidus
- Coregonus chadary, Khadary whitefish
- Coregonus clupeaformis, lake whitefishLake whitefishThe lake whitefish , also called the Sault whitefish or gizzard fish, is a species of freshwater whitefish from North America. Lake whitefish are found throughout much of Canada and parts of the northern United States, including all of the Great Lakes. A valuable commercial fish, they are also...
- Coregonus clupeoides, powanPowanThe powan is a kind of freshwater whitefish endemic to two lochs in Scotland, Loch Lomond and Loch Eck. It has been successfully introduced in two other sites, Loch Sloy and the Carron Valley Reservoir....
- Coregonus confusus
- Coregonus danneri
- Coregonus fatioi
- † Coregonus feraCoregonus feraCoregonus fera, commonly called the true fera is a presumed extinct freshwater fish from Lake Geneva in Switzerland and France.-Description:...
, feraFera (fish)Fera is a locally name for several fish species of the genus Coregonus from Switzerland, and France, in particular Savoy. The true fera referred to the species Coregonus fera which was endemic to Lake Geneva but is now extinct. The ”fera” is served as food fish in Switzerland and Savoy, but this...
(extinct) - Coregonus fontanaeCoregonus fontanaeCoregonus fontanae, also known as the Stechlin, Fontane, or Fontane's cisco is a species of freshwater whitefish in the family Salmonidae endemic to the Großer Stechlinsee in northern Germany.- Description :...
, Stechlin cisco - † Coregonus gutturosus, (extinct)
- Coregonus heglingus
- † Coregonus hiemalis, gravenche (extinct)
- Coregonus hoferi
- Coregonus hoyiCoregonus hoyiThe bloater is a species of freshwater whitefish in the family Salmonidae. It is a silvery-coloured herring-like fish, long. It is found in most of the Great Lakes and in Lake Nipigon, where it inhabits underwater slopes....
, bloater - Coregonus huntsmani, Atlantic whitefishAtlantic whitefishThe Atlantic whitefish is a freshwater salmonid fish inhabiting the northwestern Atlantic ocean around the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, as well as some freshwater lakes within Nova Scotia. C. huntsmani was originally designated Coregonus canadensis, but the species name was changed in 1987. ...
- † Coregonus johannae, deepwater ciscoDeepwater ciscoThe deepwater cisco was one of the largest ciscoes in the Great Lakes. Its average length was 30cm and it was about 1.0 kilogram in weight...
(extinct) - Coregonus kiyi, kiyiKiyiThe kiyi is a species of freshwater whitefish, a deepwater cisco, endemic to the Great Lakes of North America. It previously inhabited Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron and Lake Ontario, but is now believed to persist only in Lake Superior where it is common...
- Coregonus laurettae, Bering ciscoBering ciscoThe Bering cisco or Lauretta whitefish is a freshwater whitefish found in Alaska and part of Russia. It is often considered to be the same species as the more common Arctic cisco .- Description :...
- Coregonus lavaretus
- Coregonus lucidus
- Coregonus lucinensis
- Coregonus lutokka
- Coregonus macrophthalmus
- Coregonus maraenaCoregonus maraenaCoregonus maraena, also called the maraene, is a species of freshwater whitefish in the family Salmonidae. It occurs in Poland, Sweden, Finland, Germany, and Russia. The maximum length recorded for this species is . It is frequently considered to be a subspecies of Coregonus lavaretus....
, maraena whitefish - Coregonus maxillaris
- Coregonus megalops, lacustrine fluvial whitefish
- Coregonus migratorius, omulOmulThe omul, Coregonus migratorius, also known as Baikal omul , is a whitefish species of the salmon family endemic to Lake Baikal in Siberia, Russia. It is considered a delicacy and is the object of one of the largest commercial fisheries on Lake Baikal...
- Coregonus muksun, muksunMuksunThe Muksun is a type of whitefish. Its name is derived from its Russian name Муксун.The muksun is a widespread fish in the Siberian Arctic waters. It is mostly found in the freshened areas of the Kara and Laptev Seas and up the major rivers, as well as in Lake Taymyr.Like all whitefishes, it is a...
- Coregonus nasus, broad whitefishBroad WhitefishThe broad whitefish is a freshwater whitefish species. Dark silvery in colour, and like a herring in its shape, its distinctive features include a convex head, short gill rakers, and a mild overbite. It is found in the Arctic-draining streams, lakes, and rivers of far eastern Russia and North...
- Coregonus nelsonii, Alaska whitefishAlaska whitefishThe Alaska whitefish is a species of whitefish in the family Salmonidae.It is found in parts of northwestern North America, where it occurs only in small and large rivers, and rarely in lakes....
- Coregonus nigripinnis, blackfin ciscoBlackfin ciscoThe blackfin cisco is a North American salmonid fish in the freshwater whitefish sub-family Coregoninae. This silvery, deep-bodied fish with black fins, large eyes, a blunt snout and a terminal mouth, is one of the largest species of ciscoes...
- Coregonus nilssoni
- Coregonus nobilis
- † Coregonus oxyrinchus, houtingHoutingThe houting is an extinct species of fish in the Salmonidae family. This species is distinguishable by having a long, pointed snout, an inferior mouth and 38—46 gill rakers. The houting once occurred in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and England.'Houtings' were said to be surviving in...
(extinct) - Coregonus palaea
- Coregonus pallasii
- Coregonus peled, peled
- Coregonus pennantii, gwyniadGwyniadThe gwyniad is a freshwater whitefish native to Bala Lake in northern Wales.The population is threatened by deteriorating water quality and by the ruffe, a fish introduced to the lake in the 1980s and now eating the eggs and fry of gwyniad...
- Coregonus pidschian, humpback whitefish
- Coregonus pollanCoregonus pollanThe pollan or Irish pollan is a freshwater whitefish that is known only from five Irish lakes, Lough Neagh, Lower Lough Erne, Lough Ree, Lough Derg and Lough Allen....
, pollan - Coregonus reighardi, shortnose ciscoShortnose ciscoThe shortnose cisco is a species of freshwater fish in the salmon family . The species is native to the Nearctic ecozone, formerly occurring in Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Ontario in Canada and the United States...
- Coregonus renke
- Coregonus restrictus
- Coregonus sardinella, least ciscoLeast ciscoThe least cisco, Coregonus sardinella, is a freshwater species of fish that inhabits some marginal seas of the Arctic. It is found from the Murchison River in Canada to Bristol Bay in Alaska, and in the Russian Arctic from the Kara Sea eastwards across the Laptev Sea, the East Siberian Sea, the...
- Coregonus stigmaticus, schellySchellyThe schelly is a designation for four populations of freshwater whitefish in the English Lake District, Cumbria. The native populations of this fish inhabit the Brothers Water, Haweswater, Red Tarn and Ullswater, and occupy a total area of about 20 square kilometers...
- Coregonus subautumnalis
- Coregonus suidteri
- Coregonus trybomiCoregonus trybomiCoregonus trybomi is a freshwater whitefish in the Salmonidae family, described by Gunnar Svärdson in 1979. It is a spring-spawning type of cisco, which probably has evolved from sympatric vendace independently in a number of Swedish lakes. Only one of those populations survives, and it is...
- Coregonus tugun, tugun
- Coregonus ussuriensis, Amur whitefish
- Coregonus vandesiusCoregonus vandesiusCoregonus vandesius, the vendace, is a freshwater whitefish found in the United Kingdom. Population surveys of this species since the 1960s have revealed a steady decline.-Taxonomy:...
, vendace - Coregonus wartmanni
- Coregonus widegreni, Valaam whitefish
- Coregonus zenithicus, shortjaw ciscoShortjaw ciscoThe shortjaw cisco is a deepwater cisco or chub . It has large, smooth scales and is iridescent silver, with a greenish back and white belly. The mouth is small and toothless, and the lower jaw is shorter than or equal in length to the upper jaw...
- Coregonus zuerichensis
- Coregonus zugensis