''Coregonus gutturosus'', the Lake Constance whitefish, is an
extinct
Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
species of
whitefish in the salmon family
Salmonidae
Salmonidae is a family of ray-finned fish that constitutes the only currently extant family in the order Salmoniformes . It includes salmon (both Atlantic and Pacific species), trout (both ocean-going and landlocked), chars, freshwater whitefis ...
. It was formerly found only in deep areas of
Lake Constance
Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Lak ...
in the
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
.
Extinction
''Coregonus gutturosus'' was a deep water whitefish that reached a length of . ''Coregonus gutturosus'' was highly sensitive to environmental changes and it is thought that the
eutrophication
Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phyt ...
of Lake Constance, which peaked in 1979, irreversibly affected the development of the eggs of the species.
Surveys undertaken at the start of the 21st century failed to find any evidence of the survival of the Lake Constance whitefish.
References
gutturosus
Fish described in 1818
Freshwater fish of Europe
Lake Constance
Cold water fish
Extinct animals of Europe
Fish extinctions since 1500
{{Salmoniformes-stub