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Ciscoes
The ciscoes (or ''ciscos'') are salmonid fish that differ from other members of the genus in having upper and lower jaws of approximately equal length and high gill raker counts. These species have been the focus of much study recently, as researchers have sought to determine the relationships among species that appear to have evolved very recently. The term ''cisco'' is also specifically used of the North American species ''Coregonus artedi'', also known as lake herring. In previous taxonomic classifications, the ciscoes have been identified as a subgenus ''Leucichthys'' of the genus ''Coregonus''. Based on molecular data this is not a natural classification however, as the ciscoes are polyphyletic, comprising two different lineages within the freshwater whitefishes.Bernatchez L, Colombani F, Dodson JJ (1991Phylogenetic relationships among the subfamily Coregoninae as revealed by mitochondrial DNA restriction analysis''Journal of Fish Biology 39 (Suppl A):283-290. Continental ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blackfin Cisco
The blackfin cisco (''Coregonus nigripinnis'') was 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, was one of the largest forms of ciscoes. The blackfin cisco used to inhabit the Great Lakes of North America until recently, but has been reported to have gone extinct. The blackfin cisco is a member of the '' C. artedi'' complex, whose taxonomy has not yet been resolved, and it may not represent a valid species. Taxonomy The species was first mentioned by P.R. Hoy 1872, attributing Gill as the species authority, but Gill's manuscript was never published. The first valid description of this species is attributed to James Wood Milner in 1874. The taxonomy of ''C. nigripinnis'', along with other ciscoes in the '' C. artedi'' complex, is unresolved. ''C. nigripinnis'' was recognized by W.N. Koelz in 1929 to consist of four subspecies, but he had difficul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shortjaw Cisco
The shortjaw cisco (''Coregonus zenithicus'') is a North-American freshwater whitefish in the salmon family. Adult fish range to about in length and are silver, tinged with green above and paler below. One of the members of the broader ''Coregonus artedi'' complex of ciscoes, it is distributed widely in the deeper lakes of Canada, but populations in the Great Lakes have been declining and it is no longer present in Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Erie. It feeds mainly on crustaceans and insect larvae and spawns in the autumn on the lake bed. It is part of the important cisco (chub) fishery in the Great Lakes. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as " vulnerable". Shortjaw cisco have however evolved from the cisco ''Coregonus artedi'' independently in different lakes and different parts of the range, and conservation assessments therefore should be made on a lake-wise rather than range-wide basis.Julie Turgeon, Scott M. Reid, Audrey Bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deepwater Cisco
The deepwater cisco (''Coregonus johannae'') was one of the largest ciscoes in the Great Lakes. Its average length was 30 cm (12 inches) and it was about 1.0 kilogram (2.2 pounds) in weight. Occurring only in Lakes Huron and Michigan, and inhabiting waters between 50 and 150 metres deep, it was difficult to distinguish from other ciscoes and was possibly the same species as the shortjaw cisco (''Coregonus zenithicus''). The deepwater cisco was distinguished by usually having fewer than 33 gill rakers, relatively long pectoral fins, and unpigmented jaws. It was a silvery colour with a pink or purple lustre and a green or blue back. It spawned in August and September, earlier than most other ciscoes. Not much is known about its specific behaviors. Its diet consisted of Mysis relicta, fingernail clams, and various aquatic insects. Because of its large size, the deepwater cisco was heavily fished commercially. The main reasons for its extinction was a combination of competition ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coregonus
''Coregonus'' is a diverse genus of fish in the salmon family (Salmonidae). The ''Coregonus'' species are known as whitefishes. The genus contains at least 68 described extant taxa, but the true number of species is a matter of debate. The type species of the genus is '' Coregonus lavaretus''. Most ''Coregonus'' species inhabit lakes and rivers, and several species, including 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 whitefish species or ecotypes, especially from the Great Lakes and the Alpine lakes of Europe, have gone extinct over the past century or are endangered. Among 12 freshwater fish considered extinct in Europe, 6 are ''Coregonus''. All ''Coregonus'' species are protected under appendix III of the Bern Convention. Taxonomy Phylogenetic evidence indicates that the most basal member of the genus is the highly endang ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coregonus Artedi
''Coregonus artedi'', commonly known as the cisco, is a North American species of freshwater whitefish in the family Salmonidae. The number of species and definition of species limits in North American ciscoes is a matter of debate. Accordingly, ''Coregonus artedi'' may refer either in a narrow sense to one of the several types of cisco found e.g. in the Great Lakes, or in a broad sense to the complex of all ciscoes in continental North American lakes, ''Coregonus artedi'' sensu lato. ''Coregonus artedi'', narrow sense Narrowly defined, ''Coregonus artedi'' is known variously with the common names cisco, northern cisco, lake herring, chub or tullibee and its Anishinaabe name ''Odoonibiins''. It is a pelagic fish occurring in the midwater zone of cold water lakes in North America. In the northern and western parts of its range it is also found in large rivers. This species occasionally grows as large as 40 cm and 2.3 kg (five pounds), but is more commonly 28 to 38&nb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bering Cisco
The Bering cisco or Lauretta whitefish (''Coregonus laurettae'') 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 (''Coregonus autumnalis''). Description The Bering cisco has an elongate, compressed body. It is silvery-coloured, with a brownish or greenish back. Its pelvic and pectoral fins are almost clear, and its other fins are spotted white. It is distinguished from the Arctic cisco by its smaller number of gill rakers. It reaches a maximum length of . Distribution The Bering cisco is found in Alaska from Cook Inlet on the south coast to Oliktok Point on the Arctic coast. It occurs on the Yukon River as far upstream as Dawson City, on the Porcupine River, and in the lakes of the Brooks Range. There are some reports of Bering ciscoes from the Chukchi Peninsula and the Kamchatka Peninsula, these presumably being migrants from Alaska. Ecology The Bering cisco is usually found in riv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lauretta Whitefish
The Bering cisco or Lauretta whitefish (''Coregonus laurettae'') 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 (''Coregonus autumnalis''). Description The Bering cisco has an elongate, compressed body. It is silvery-coloured, with a brownish or greenish back. Its pelvic and pectoral fins are almost clear, and its other fins are spotted white. It is distinguished from the Arctic cisco by its smaller number of gill rakers. It reaches a maximum length of . Distribution The Bering cisco is found in Alaska from Cook Inlet on the south coast to Oliktok Point on the Arctic coast. It occurs on the Yukon River as far upstream as Dawson City, on the Porcupine River, and in the lakes of the Brooks Range. There are some reports of Bering ciscoes from the Chukchi Peninsula and the Kamchatka Peninsula, these presumably being migrants from Alaska. Ecology The Bering cisco is usually found in riv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Longjaw Cisco
The longjaw cisco (''Coregonus alpenae'') 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. Silver colored and growing to a maximum length of about 30 centimeters (12 inches) long, the extinction of longjaw cisco was a result of overfishing, pollution of the Great Lakes and the disruption of Great Lakes food chains after the introduction of the sea lamprey. The systematics of the group of fishes called "ciscoes" is complicated and scientists now generally believe that the longjaw cisco was not a separate species, but a distinctive population of large-bodied individuals of shortjaw cisco (''Coregonus zenithicus''). The deepwater cisco fishery caught longjaw ciscoes and sold them as "smoked herring". The commercial catch peaked around the 1930s when about one-third of the catch of ciscoes was this species. No individuals have been reported in commercial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Freshwater Whitefish
The freshwater whitefish are fishes of the subfamily Coregoninae, which contains whitefishes (both freshwater and anadromous) and ciscoes, and is one of three subfamilies in the salmon family Salmonidae. Apart from the subfamily Coregoninae, the family Salmonidae includes the salmon, trout, and char species of the subfamily Salmoninae, and grayling species of the subfamily Thymallinae. Freshwater whitefish are distributed mainly in relatively cool waters throughout the northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere. The Coregoninae subfamily consists of three nominal genera: *''Coregonus'' Linnaeus, 1758 – whitefishes and ciscoes, which according to some authors number more than 60 species. There are differing opinions on the classification of some species within the genus and the overall number of species. Some species in Arctic regions of Asia and North America forage in marine waters. *''Prosopium'' Jordan, 1878 – round whitefishes, which includes six species, three of which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shortnose Cisco
The shortnose cisco (''Coregonus reighardi'') is a North American freshwater whitefish in the salmon family Salmonidae. One of the members of the broader ''Coregonus artedi'' species complex of ciscoes, it is native to the Great Lakes of Canada and the United States. Its population has been declining and it has disappeared from some of its earlier haunts. The last reported population was restricted to Georgian Bay off Lake Huron in Canada. It is thought that declines in the population of this fish may be linked with the arrival of the sea lamprey (''Petromyzon marinus''), in the Great Lakes. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated the conservation status of this fish as " critically endangered", and possibly extinct. Description Reaching a maximum recorded length of 36 cm (14 in) and a maximum recorded weight of 540 g (1 lb 3 oz), the shortnose cisco is distinguished from the other whitefishes by its thicker body (nearly circular in cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rainbow Smelt
The rainbow smelt (''Osmerus mordax'') is a North American species of fish of the family Osmeridae. Walleye, trout, and other larger fish prey on these smelt. The rainbow smelt prefer juvenile ciscoes, zooplankton such as calanoid copepods ('' Leptodiaptomus ashlandi'', '' L. minutus'', '' L. sicilis''), and other small organisms, but are aggressive and will eat almost any fish they find. They are anadromous spring spawners and prefer clean streams with light flow and light siltation. The rainbow smelt face several barriers. They are weak swimmers and struggle to navigate fish ladders preventing them from making it past dams to the headwater streams where they spawn. The rise in erosion and dams helped to decimate the smelt population in the 1980s. There are currently plans to try to reduce damming and to help control erosion. Description The body of the rainbow smelt is slender and cylindrical. It has a silvery, pale green back and is iridescent purple, blue, and pink on the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyprinid
Cyprinidae is a family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family. It includes the carps, the true minnows, and relatives like the barbs and barbels. Cyprinidae is the largest and most diverse fish family and the largest vertebrate animal family in general with about 3,000 species, of which only 1,270 remain extant, divided into about 370 genera. Cyprinids range from about 12 mm in size to the giant barb (''Catlocarpio siamensis''). By genus and species count, the family makes up more than two-thirds of the ostariophysian order Cypriniformes. The family name is derived from the Greek word ( 'carp'). Biology and ecology Cyprinids are stomachless fish with toothless jaws. Even so, food can be effectively chewed by the gill rakers of the specialized last gill bow. These pharyngeal teeth allow the fish to make chewing motions against a chewing plate formed by a bony process of the skull. The pharyngeal teeth are unique to each species and are used by scient ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
