''Coregonus vandesius'', the vendace , is a

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, ...

found in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Population surveys since the 1960s have revealed a steady decline, and the fish is no longer present in some of its previous habitats, but is still present in

Bassenthwaite Lake Bassenthwaite Lake is a body of water in the Lake District in North West England, near the town of Keswick. It has an area of , making the fourth largest of the lakes in the region. The lake has a length of approximately long and maximum wid ...

and

Derwent Water Derwentwater, or Derwent Water, is a lake in the Lake District in North West England, immediately south of Keswick. It is in the unitary authority of Cumberland within the ceremonial county of Cumbria. It is the third largest lake by area, a ...

. The main threats it faces are

eutrophication Eutrophication is a general term describing a process in which nutrients accumulate in a body of water, resulting in an increased growth of organisms that may deplete the oxygen in the water; ie. the process of too many plants growing on the s ...

and the introduction of alien species of fish that eat its eggs. The

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the stat ...

has rated its conservation status as "

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...

Taxonomy

Most authorities now consider ''Coregonus vandesius'' a subjective synonym of ''

Coregonus albula ''Coregonus albula'', known as the vendace or as the European cisco, is a species of freshwater whitefish in the family Salmonidae. It is found in lakes in northern Europe, especially Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Russia and Estonia, and in ...

'', a more widespread North European freshwater whitefish species. Both taxa are also known by the

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often con ...

vendace. The status, however, remains controversial, and

FishBase FishBase is a global species database of fish species (specifically finfish). It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web.

still lists ''C. vandesius'' as a separate species reflecting the recent treatment of the European freshwater fish fauna by Kottelat & Freyhof (2007). Another synonym of British ''C. vandesius'' is ''C. gracilior''. The name "vendace" ( Scots ) is borrowed from

Neo-Latin Neo-LatinSidwell, Keith ''Classical Latin-Medieval Latin-Neo Latin'' in ; others, throughout. (also known as New Latin and Modern Latin) is the style of written Latin used in original literary, scholarly, and scientific works, first in Italy d ...

(which referred to the common dace ''Leuciscus leuciscus''), from

Middle French Middle French () is a historical division of the French language that covers the period from the mid-14th to the early 17th centuries. It is a period of transition during which: * the French language became clearly distinguished from the other co ...

, probably of

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

origin; cf.

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The ...

"white."

Biology

''Coregonus vandesius'' inhabits deep, cold lakes and uses

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms that drift in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) but are unable to actively propel themselves against ocean current, currents (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are ca ...

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

s, such as

copepod Copepods (; meaning 'oar-feet') are a group of small crustaceans found in nearly every freshwater and saltwater habitat (ecology), habitat. Some species are planktonic (living in the water column), some are benthos, benthic (living on the sedimen ...

s, as its primary food source. The fish does not migrate and has a life span of about six years. The species is now Britain's rarest fish.

Distribution and habitat

The vendace has only ever been known as a native species at four sites in Britain:

and

in the English

Lake District The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...

, and the Castle Loch and Mill Loch in

Lochmaben Lochmaben () is a small town and civil parish in Scotland, and site of a castle. It lies west of Lockerbie, in Dumfries and Galloway. By the 12th century the Bruce family had become the local landowners and, in the 14th century, Edward I of Engl ...

, Scotland. The species was thought to have died out at all these sites except Derwent Water. The Castle Loch population disappeared in the early part of the 20th century, and the Mill Loch population disappeared in the 1990s. The fish had not been recorded at Bassenthwaite Lake since 2001, but was recently rediscovered in 2014. The decline is thought to be caused by predation of

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...

and by pollution. For example, a water treatment work near the lake had been overflowing with raw sewage at times of high water levels, causing severe algae blooms that were depleting the lake's oxygen supply, but the plant was to be renovated in 2004 to prevent this.

Status

This fish has a restricted range, with a total area of occupancy of less than . The current population trend is unknown, and the main threats are thought to be

and the introduction of alien species. The

has rated its conservation status as being "

". ''Coregonus vandesius'' was introduced to Loch Skeen in

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway (; ) is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the no ...

, Scotland, in the 1990s as an attempt at ex-situ conservation after the severity of habitat deterioration at Bassenthwaite was noticed. This has proved largely successful, and Loch Skeen now has nearly ten times the number of vendace per hectare as Derwent Water, according to a survey carried out by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. A population was also introduced into Sprinkling Tarn, a mountain tarn 10 miles from Derwentwater, in 2011, to create a refuge for the species in cooler water.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2997229 vandesius Freshwater fish of Europe Fish described in 1836 Taxa named by John Richardson (naturalist)