Ives Lake cisco

The Ives Lake cisco (Coregonus hubbsi) is a freshwater whitefish known to inhabit a single inland lake in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The species was last observed in 1983, although there is disagreement on whether it is distinct from Coregonus artedi.[1] This taxon has been found only in Ives Lake, a lake in the Huron Mountains.[2][3] The lake encompasses a radius of less than 1.5 miles (2.4 km).[4]

Ives Lake cisco
Photograph of the Ives Lake cisco published by Walter Koelz in 1929
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Salmoniformes
Family:	Salmonidae
Subfamily:	Coregoninae
Genus:	Coregonus
Species:	C. hubbsi
Binomial name
Coregonus hubbsi
Synonyms
Leucichthys hubbsi (Koelz, 1929)

Discovery

With the cooperation of the Huron Mountain Club, specimens were first collected by Carl Leavitt Hubbs and Walter Koelz in 1924 and 1927.[4] Koelz published their discovery through the University of Michigan in 1929, and designated the taxon as Leucichthys hubbsi.[4] Koelz found the stream draining Ives Lake quickly dropped over 100 feet (30 m), and postulated that the stream's steepness had prevented faunal interchange since the time of Lake Algonquin.[4]

Description

Walter Koelz described Coregonous hubbsi in a 1929 publication titled "Leucichthys hubbsi, a new cisco, From Ives Lake, Marquette County, Michigan".[4] The color was noted as silvery, with "underlying tones of pea-green and blue green" along with gray fins. Koelz claimed that the Ives Lake cisco was easily distinguishable from Coregonus artedi due to the long gill rakers of C. hubbsi. He reported that the Ives Lake cisco is smaller and has a less slender body than C. artedi.[4]

Conservation status

There has been scientific disagreement on whether or not the Ives Lake cisco is a distinct species from the widespread C. artedi; hence there is no consensus on the conversation status.[3] A 2005 report from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources recommended that the Ives Lake cisco be removed from the list of "special-concern" species.[3] However, a 2013 report from the same publisher gave the Ives Lake cisco a "critically imperiled" G-rank and S-rank for conservation status, and listed the fish as "extremely vulnerable" to climate change.[5]

References

1. "Coregonus hubbsi". Michigan Natural Features Inventory. Michigan State University. 2007. Archived from the original on June 27, 2016. Retrieved January 8, 2015.
2. Whittaker, J. C. & Hammerson, G. (February 23, 1995). "Coregonus hubbsi - (Koelz, 1929)". NatureServe Explorer. NatureServe. Retrieved January 7, 2015.
3. Latta, W. C. (October 2005). "Status of Michigan's Endangered, Threatened, Special-concern, and Other Fishes, 1993–2001". Fisheries Research Report. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Michigan Department of Natural Resources. 2079.
4. Koelz, Walter (June 19, 1929). "Leucichthys hubbsi, a new cisco, from Ives Lake, Marquette County, Michigan". Occasional Papers of the Museum of Zoology. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan (204). hdl:2027.42/56643.
5. Hoving, Christopher L.; Lee, Yu Man; Badra, Peter J.; Latt, Brian J. (April 2013). "Changing Climate, Changing Wildlife: A Vulnerability Assessment of 400 Species of Greatest Conservation Need and Game Species in Michigan". Wildlife Division Report. Michigan Department of Natural Resources. No. 3564.