Atlantic whitefish

The Atlantic whitefish (Coregonus huntsmani) is a coregonine fish inhabiting some freshwater lakes within Nova Scotia, Canada. It is known to survive only in the Petite Rivière watershed as landlocked populations. Earlier it was also found in the Tusket and Annis rivers of Nova Scotia. Those populations were anadromous, migrating to the estuary to feed while breeding in freshwater.

Atlantic whitefish
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Salmoniformes
Family: Salmonidae
Genus: Coregonus
Species:
C. huntsmani
Binomial name
Coregonus huntsmani
W. B. Scott, 1987
Synonyms
  • Coregonus canadensis W. B. Scott 1967

C. huntsmani was originally designated Coregonus canadensis, but the species name was changed in 1987. Other common names that C. huntsmani is known by are Acadian whitefish and sault whitefish. The species was designated as an endangered species by the World Conservation Union in 1986 and vulnerable in 1996. Nova Scotia prohibited the taking of Atlantic whitefish under the Canadian Fisheries Act.

The Atlantic whitefish has a typical salmonid body shape and is silvery on the sides and underside with a dark blue to dark green back. The landlocked populations feed on insects and small fish. The reproduction of Atlantic whitefish in nature has not been observed.

The narrowly endemic Atlantic whitefish is genetically distinct from the lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) and the cisco (Coregonus artedi), which both are widespread across much of continental North America.

References
  1. Smith, K. 2017. Coregonus huntsmani. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2017: e.T5379A81422722. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2017-3.RLTS.T5379A81422722.en. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  • Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2006). "Coregonus huntsmani" in FishBase. 06 2006 version.
  • Recovery potential assessment of Atlantic whitefish (Coregonus huntsmani) Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat Science Advisory Report 2009/051
  • "Coregonus canadensis". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 12 June 2006.
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