Coregonus fontanae
Encyclopedia
Coregonus 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.
. The maximum length recorded for this species is 12.6 centimetres (5 in), and 10 centimetres (3.9 in) is believed to be a typical size.
Stechlin ciscoes are silvery pink in body color, with a bluish-brown back and glassy fins.
The Stechlin cisco is taxonomically distinguished from the vendace and the other dwarfed cisco species by its low number of lateral line scales (69–77), by some bodily proportions, by the length of its gill raker
s, by its slow growth, by its glassy fins, and by its spring spawning season.
and Jörg Freyhof's survey of the freshwater fish of Europe, the taxonomic status of this species was more closely examined, and Freyhof and colleague M. Schulz found this form to be a separate species, on the basis of its spring spawning season and small size. They named it in honor of German literary figure Theodor Fontane
, whose last completed novel, Der Stechlin, used Lake Stechlin's landscape as a backdrop.
in the north of Brandenburg
state in Germany
. Lake Stechlin is a deep, cool, chalk
y, oligotrophic lake of recent glacial origin. Lake Stechlin has an area of 4.3 square kilometres (1.7 sq mi) and reaches a maximum depth of 68 metres (223.1 ft) and a mean depth of 22.8 metres (74.8 ft). In Lake Stechlin, this species and the vendace (Coregonus albula
) make up 95 percent of the fish biomass
. Lake Stechlin is part of Stechlin-Ruppiner Land Nature Park
, and there are no threats to this species, so it is listed as Least Concern
by the IUCN Red List
.
ns and copepod
s. They are found throughout the lake, though they are generally pelagic in cool, deep water. They differ little in dietary preferences from the sympatric vendace, but they differ substantially in habitat. They live to be four to five years old, and spawn in the spring, unlike the vendace
. They have been found to have a reduced metabolic rate as an adaptation to their habitat.
The Stechlin cisco represents the extreme of a pattern of cisco adaptive radiations into dwarf, spring-spawning, cold-tolerant forms in northern Europe
an lakes after the last glacial period 12,000 years ago. The species in this radiation were formerly considered to be single species, Coregonus trybomi
, but mitochondrial DNA
and allozyme studies show that the spring-spawning populations in various lakes each evolved independently from the vendace and the least cisco though all the species in this complex are paraphyletic to each other. As of 2009, the Stechlin cisco was one of only three of these dwarf species described that had been scientifically described, the third being Coregonus lucinensis from the lake Breiter Luzin
, 30 kilometres (18.6 mi) from the Großer Stechlinsee.
Freshwater whitefish
The freshwater whitefish are fish of the subfamily Coregoninae in the salmon family Salmonidae. Along with the freshwater whitefish, the Salmonidae includes the freshwater and anadromous trout and salmon species as well as graylings...
in 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...
endemic to the Großer Stechlinsee
Großer Stechlinsee
Großer Stechlinsee or Lake Stechlin is a lake in Landkreis Oberhavel, Brandenburg, Germany. At an elevation of 60 m, its surface area is 4.52 km². The Stechlin cisco, a dwarfed fish, is found only in this lake...
in northern Germany.
Description
Coregonus fontanae is highly dwarfed, and is believed to be the world's smallest type of ciscoCisco (fish)
The ciscoes are salmonid fish of the genus Coregonus that differ from other members of the genus in having upper and lower jaws of approximately equal length and high gillraker counts...
. The maximum length recorded for this species is 12.6 centimetres (5 in), and 10 centimetres (3.9 in) is believed to be a typical size.
Stechlin ciscoes are silvery pink in body color, with a bluish-brown back and glassy fins.
The Stechlin cisco is taxonomically distinguished from the vendace and the other dwarfed cisco species by its low number of lateral line scales (69–77), by some bodily proportions, by the length of its gill raker
Gill raker
Gill rakers in fish are bony or cartilaginous processes that project from the branchial arch and are involved with filter feeding tiny prey. They are not to be confused with the gill filaments that compose the bony part of the gill. Rakers are usually present in two rows, projecting from both the...
s, by its slow growth, by its glassy fins, and by its spring spawning season.
Taxonomy
The existence of two forms of whitefish was noted by G. Bauch in 1953 and A. K. Awand and colleagues in the 1990s. During Maurice KottelatMaurice Kottelat
Dr. Maurice Kottelat is a Swiss ichthyologist.In 1976 he entered the University of Neuchâtel where he obtained his diploma in 1987. In 1980 he went to Thailand where he began his field research on Southeast Asiatic and Indonesian fresh water fish species...
and Jörg Freyhof's survey of the freshwater fish of Europe, the taxonomic status of this species was more closely examined, and Freyhof and colleague M. Schulz found this form to be a separate species, on the basis of its spring spawning season and small size. They named it in honor of German literary figure Theodor Fontane
Theodor Fontane
Theodor Fontane was a German novelist and poet, regarded by many as the most important 19th-century German-language realist writer.-Youth:Fontane was born in Neuruppin into a Huguenot family. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to an apothecary, his father's profession. He became an...
, whose last completed novel, Der Stechlin, used Lake Stechlin's landscape as a backdrop.
Distribution
This species is restricted to the Großer Stechlinsee (also called Lake Stechlin), near the town of StechlinStechlin
Stechlin is a municipality in the Oberhavel district, in Brandenburg, Germany.-Geography:Stechlin lies near the northern border of Brandenburg, at the start of the Mecklenburg Lake District. It is part of the Stechlin-Ruppiner Land Nature Park, surrounded by the Menzer Forest and has many lakes in...
in the north of Brandenburg
Brandenburg
Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
state in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. Lake Stechlin is a deep, cool, chalk
Chalk
Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock, a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. Calcite is calcium carbonate or CaCO3. It forms under reasonably deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores....
y, oligotrophic lake of recent glacial origin. Lake Stechlin has an area of 4.3 square kilometres (1.7 sq mi) and reaches a maximum depth of 68 metres (223.1 ft) and a mean depth of 22.8 metres (74.8 ft). In Lake Stechlin, this species and the vendace (Coregonus albula
Coregonus albula
The 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...
) make up 95 percent of the fish biomass
Biomass
Biomass, as a renewable energy source, is biological material from living, or recently living organisms. As an energy source, biomass can either be used directly, or converted into other energy products such as biofuel....
. Lake Stechlin is part of Stechlin-Ruppiner Land Nature Park
Stechlin-Ruppiner Land Nature Park
Stechlin-Ruppiner Land Nature Park is a nature park and reserve in the state of Brandenburg, Germany. It covers an area of 1,080 km². It was established on July 1, 2001. It includes Lake Stechlin, home to the endemic Stechlin cisco....
, and there are no threats to this species, so it is listed as Least Concern
Least Concern
Least Concern is an IUCN category assigned to extant taxon or lower taxa which have been evaluated but do not qualify for any other category. As such they do not qualify as threatened, Near Threatened, or Conservation Dependent...
by the IUCN Red List
IUCN Red List
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species , founded in 1963, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature is the world's main authority on the conservation status of species...
.
Ecology
Stechlin ciscoes feed primarily on cladoceraCladocera
Cladocera is an order of small crustaceans commonly called water fleas. Around 620 species have been recognised so far, with many more undescribed. They are ubiquitous in inland aquatic habitats, but rare in the oceans. Most are long, with a down-turned head, and a carapace covering the apparently...
ns and copepod
Copepod
Copepods are a group of small crustaceans found in the sea and nearly every freshwater habitat. Some species are planktonic , some are benthic , and some continental species may live in limno-terrestrial habitats and other wet terrestrial places, such as swamps, under leaf fall in wet forests,...
s. They are found throughout the lake, though they are generally pelagic in cool, deep water. They differ little in dietary preferences from the sympatric vendace, but they differ substantially in habitat. They live to be four to five years old, and spawn in the spring, unlike the vendace
Vendace
Vendace can refers to several species of fish, but especially these species of freshwater whitefish:*Coregonus albula, widespread in northern continental Europe...
. They have been found to have a reduced metabolic rate as an adaptation to their habitat.
The Stechlin cisco represents the extreme of a pattern of cisco adaptive radiations into dwarf, spring-spawning, cold-tolerant forms in northern 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...
an lakes after the last glacial period 12,000 years ago. The species in this radiation were formerly considered to be single species, Coregonus trybomi
Coregonus trybomi
Coregonus 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...
, but mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA
Mitochondrial DNA is the DNA located in organelles called mitochondria, structures within eukaryotic cells that convert the chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, adenosine triphosphate...
and allozyme studies show that the spring-spawning populations in various lakes each evolved independently from the vendace and the least cisco though all the species in this complex are paraphyletic to each other. As of 2009, the Stechlin cisco was one of only three of these dwarf species described that had been scientifically described, the third being Coregonus lucinensis from the lake Breiter Luzin
Breiter Luzin
Breiter Luzin is a lake in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. At an elevation of 84.3 m, its surface area is 3.45 km². It is home to an endemic dwarfed whitefish, Coregonus lucinensis....
, 30 kilometres (18.6 mi) from the Großer Stechlinsee.