Coregonus Linnaeus, 1758, is a genus of fish in the salmon family (family Salmonidae). The type species is the common whitefish (C. lavaretus). The Coregonus species are known as whitefishes.

The Arctic cisco (C. autumnalis), the Bering cisco (C. laurettae), and the sardine cisco (C. sardinella) are anadromous, moving between salt water and fresh water.

The deepwater cisco (C. johannae), and the longjaw cisco (C. alpenae) became extinct in the last half of the twentieth century. The blackfin cisco (C. nigripinnis) is considered extirpated from most of its previous range, and is now found only in Lake Nipigon. The shortnose cisco (C. reighardi) may also be extinct and is so considered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, although IUCN classifies it as Critically Endangered. IUCN considers several other species of whitefish to be Vulnerable. All Coregonus species are protected under appendix III of the Bern Convention.

Species

There is much uncertainty and confusion in the classification of the many of species of this genus. The following are the species as listed by FishBase:

• Coregonus albellus
• Coregonus albula — Vendace
• Coregonus alpenae — Longjaw cisco (extinct)
• Coregonus alpinus
• Coregonus arenicolus
• Coregonus artedi — Cisco or lake herring
• Coregonus atterensis
• Coregonus autumnalis — Arctic cisco
• Coregonus bavaricus
• Coregonus bezola
• Coregonus candidus
• Coregonus chadary — Khadary whitefish
• Coregonus clupeaformis — Lake whitefish
• Coregonus clupeoides — Powan
• Coregonus confusus — Pfarrig (extinct)
• Coregonus cylindraceus — Anadyr and Belaya river basins
• Coregonus danneri
• Coregonus fatioi
• Coregonus fera — Fera (extinct)
• Coregonus fontanae
• Coregonus gutturosus - Kilch (extinct)
• Coregonus heglingus
• Coregonus hiemalis - Lake Geneva white-fish (extinct)
• Coregonus hoferi
• Coregonus hoyi — Bloater
• Coregonus huntsmani (previous synonym: Coregonus canadensis) — Atlantic whitefish
• Coregonus johannae — Deepwater cisco (extinct)
• Coregonus kiyi — Kiyi
• Coregonus laurettae — Bering cisco
• Coregonus lavaretus baicalensis — European whitefish
• Coregonus lavaretus lavaretus — Common whitefish
• Coregonus lucidus
• Coregonus lucinensis
• Coregonus macrophthalmus
• Coregonus maraena
• Coregonus maxillaris
• Coregonus megalops — Lacustrine fluvial whitefish
• Coregonus migratorius — Omul
• Coregonus muksun — Muksun
• Coregonus nasus — Broad whitefish
• Coregonus nelsoni — Alaska whitefish
• Coregonus nigripinnis — Blackfin cisco
• Coregonus nilssoni
• Coregonus nipigon - Nipigon cisco
• Coregonus nobilis
• Coregonus oxyrhynchus — Houting
• Coregonus palaea
• Coregonus pallasii
• Coregonus peled — Peled
• Coregonus pennantii — Gwyniad
• Coregonus pidschian — Humpback whitefish
• Coregonus pollan — Irish pollan
• Coregonus reighardi — Shortnose cisco (extinct?)
• Coregonus renke
• Coregonus restrictus
• Coregonus sardinella — Least cisco
• Coregonus stigmaticus — Schelly
• Coregonus subautumnalis
• Coregonus suidteri
• Coregonus trybomi
• Coregonus tugun lenensis — Lena tugun
• Coregonus tugun tugun — Tugun
• Coregonus ussuriensis — Amur whitefish
• Coregonus vandesius
• Coregonus wartmanni
• Coregonus widegreni — Valaam whitefish
• Coregonus zenithicus — Shortjaw cisco
• Coregonus zuerichensis
• Coregonus zugensis

This fish is also an alternative for caviar.

References

• Division of Endangered Species. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "Extinct Species List" Fort Snelling, Minn.: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, n.d. Accessed 12 December 2004.

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