''Salvelinus profundus'' (german: Tiefseesaibling 'Deepwater char') is a deepwater char species found only in deep areas of Lake Constance. This fish can reach in length and has a blunt snout with the mouth in subinferior position. Its lower fins have no white margins and its flanks are silvery to yellowish with pale blue spots; the belly can have a reddish color.

History

''Salvelinus profundus'' was still a commercial species in the 1960s but 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 phytopla ...

of Lake Constance, which began in the 1950s and peaked in 1979, is thought to have affected egg development. Surveys undertaken in the last ten years failed to find any evidence of the survival of this deep-water trout, as well as of the Lake Constance whitefish ('' Coregonus gutturosus''), another fish species driven recently to extinction. The species had been reported extinct since the late 1970s but was officially declared so by the IUCN only in 2008. However, the fish species was rediscovered in 2016 during 'Project Lac', a marine survey undertaken by the

Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology The Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag, German acronym for ''Eidgenössische Anstalt für Wasserversorgung, Abwasserreinigung und Gewässerschutz'') is a Swiss water research institute and an internationally network ...

. The team had not expected to locate the fish, which hadn't been seen in decades. It is suspected that they were not detected earlier due to the depth at which they swim. The

Lake Neuchâtel Lake Neuchâtel (french: Lac de Neuchâtel ; frp, Lèc de Nôchâtél; german: Neuenburgersee) is a lake primarily in Romandy, in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. The lake lies mainly in the canton of Neuchâtel, but is also shared by t ...

deepwater char (''

Salvelinus neocomensis ''Salvelinus'' is a genus of salmonid fish often called char or charr; some species are called "trout". ''Salvelinus'' is a member of the subfamily Salmoninae within the family Salmonidae. The genus has a northern circumpolar distribution, and m ...

'') is a similar fish species that became extinct earlier in another European lake.Fishbase ''Salvelinus neocomensis''

References

External links

Revue Suisse de Zoologie - Salvelinus evasus
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1341118 profundus Lake Constance Cold water fish Taxa named by Alfred Schillinger Fish described in 1901 Fauna of Germany