The gwyniad (''Coregonus pennantii'') 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, th ...
native to
Bala Lake
Bala Lake ( cy, Llyn Tegid ) is a large freshwater glacial lake in Gwynedd, Wales. The River Dee, which has its source on the slopes of Dduallt in the mountains of Snowdonia, feeds the long by wide lake. It was the largest natural body of ...
( cy, Llyn Tegid) in northern
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
.
The population is threatened by deteriorating water quality and by the
ruffe
The Eurasian ruffe (''Gymnocephalus cernua''), also known as ruffe or pope, is a freshwater fish found in temperate regions of Europe and northern Asia. It has been introduced into the Great Lakes of North America, reportedly with unfortuna ...
, a fish introduced to the lake in the 1980s and now eating the eggs and fry of gwyniad. As a conservation measure, eggs of gwyniad were transferred to
Llyn Arenig Fawr
Llyn Arenig Fawr is a lake and reservoir located near the summit of Arenig Fawr, a mountain in North Wales.
The lake's primary purpose is to supply water to the nearby town of Bala and the numerous small villages in the surrounding area. From t ...
, a nearby reservoir, between 2003 and 2007.
The taxonomy of the genus ''
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 ...
'' is disputed;
some authorities assign the gwyniad to the
common whitefish
''Coregonus lavaretus'' is a species of freshwater whitefish, in the family Salmonidae. It is the type species of its genus ''Coregonus''.
There are widely different concepts about the delimitation of the species ''Coregonus lavaretus'' and abo ...
(''Coregonus lavaretus''),
and a morphological review in 2012 was unable to find any solid evidence for recognizing the gwyniad as a separate species.
[Etheridge, E.C.; C. E. Adams; C. W. Bean; N. C. Durie; A. R. D. Gowans; C. Harrod; A. A. Lyle; P. S. Maitland; and I. J. Winfield (2012). Are phenotypic traits useful for differentiating among a priori Coregonus taxa? Journal of Fish Biology 80: 387–407. ] 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. and the
IUCN
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...
list it as a distinct species, ''C. pennantii''.
See also
*
Powan
*
Schelly
The schelly (''Coregonus stigmaticus'') is a living fresh water fish of the salmon family, endemic to four lakes in the Lake District, England. Its taxonomy is disputed with some recognizing it as a distinct species and others as a variant of t ...
*
Vendace
References
External links
''Coregonus pennantii''.Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).
Coregonus
Endemic fauna of Wales
Fish described in 1848
{{Salmoniformes-stub