Author: Linnaeus, 1758

Coregonus albula Linnaeus, 1758

Diagnosis: body moderately slender, head relatively small, snout not projecting beyond tip of lower jaw, upper jaw reaching back to level of pupil, tip of lower jaw fitting into groove of upper jaw; mouth almost toothless. Gillrakers 45-52. Pre-dorsal distance greater than distance from dorsal origin to base of last anal finray; dorsal finrays iii-iv 8-9, anal finrays iii-iv 10-12 (13). Scales moderate, 77-85 (86, 88) in lateral line. Vertebrae 57-59 (60). Colour: back green or dark green/blue, flanks silvery white, belly whitish, tip of snout dark. Size: to 260 mm, usually 180-200 mm (nominate subspecies).

Habitat: pelagic in brackish waters (nominate, migratory subspecies), also freshwaters (lacustrine subspecies and populations). Food: planktonic crustaceans. Reproduction: ascend a short distance up rivers in shoals in late August to mid-October, spawning in late autumn and early winter; mature in second year (lacustrine forms later), young descending in late summer.

Distribution: Gulf of Finland and northern part of Gulf of Bothnia, in shore in Baltic; also, about 5 lacustrine subspecies and populations in freshwater.

Eggs, larvae and young stages. Nüsslin, 1908: 178, 182, fig. 7 | Schnakenbeck, 1936: 658, fig. 1-2.
Otoliths (sagitta). Fryd, 1901: 33.

Subspecies

About 5 lacustrine subspecies recognized.

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Subphylum Vertebrata
Superclass Gnathostomata
Class Osteichthyes
Order Clupeiformes
Suborder Salmonoidei
Family Salmonidae
Genus Coregonus
Species Coregonus albula

Status in World Register of Marine Species

Accepted name: Coregonus albula (Linnaeus, 1758)

Scientific synonyms and common names

Coregonus albula Linnaeus, 1758

Synonyms:

Salmo albula Linnaeus, 1758, Syst. Nat., ed. X: 310 ('Habitat in Europa').
Coregonus albula var delta finnica Günther, 1866, Cat. Fish., 6: 193 (Gulf of Finland).
Coregonus albula: Smitt, 1895, 2 (partly): 893, pl. XLII (fig. 2) (col.) Ehrenbaum, 1936: 37, fig. 17 Alm, in Andersson et al., 1942, 2: 639, pl. 125 (col.) Berg, 1948, 1: 317, fig. 180-181 Wheeler, 1969: 149, fig. 66.


Common names:

coregone blanc [Fr]
europeiskaja riapushka [Ru]
helting [Da]
lakesild [No]
Maräne[De]
mixikkú maiva [Su]
ryapushka [Ru]
sielawa [Pl]
siklöja [Sv]
smaasild [Sv]
vendace [En]

Berg, L. S. 1948-1949. Ryby presnykh vod SSSR i sopredel'nykh stran, 4 ed., 1, Opred. pofaune SSSR, no. 27, 1948: pp. 1-466, fig. 1-281; 2, ibid., no. 29, 1949: pp. 467-925, fig. 282-674; 3, ibid., no. 30, 1949: pp. 927-1382, fig. 675-946, map (in Russian).

Ehrenbaum, E. 1936. Naturgeschichte und wirtschaftliche Bedeutung der Seefische Nordeuropas, in Handbuch der Seefischerei N. Eur., 2: x+337 pp., 276 fig., 2 tabl., 26 pl.

Fryd, G. 1901. Die Otolithen der Fische in Bezug auf ihre Bedeutung für Systematik und Altersbestimmung. Inaug. Diss., Kiel-Altona: 54 p., 14 fig.

Günther, A. 1866. Catalogue of the fishes in the British Museum. 6. Catalogue of the Physostomi containing the families Salmonidae, Percopsidae, Galaxidae, Mormyridae, Gymnarchidae, Esocidae, Umbridae, Scombresocidae, Cyprinodontidae in the collection of the British Museum. London, pp. xv+368.

Linnaeus, C. 1758. Systema Naturae, ed. X, vol. 1, 824 pp. Nantes & Pisces: pp. 230-338. (Reprint, 1956, London.)

Nüsslin, 0. 1908. Die Larven der Gattung Coregonus, ihre Beziehungen zur Biologie, und ihre systematische Bedeutung. Verh. dr. zool. Ges.: pp. 172-194, 17 fig.

Schnakenbeck, W. 1936. Untersuchungen uber die Enwicklung von Süsswasserfischen. I, Z. Fish., 34 (4): 647-681, 14 fig.

Smitt, F. A. 1893-1895. (ed.) A history of Scandinavian fishes, Stockholm and Paris, Atlas, I, 1893, pl. i-xxvii.

Wheeler, A. 1969. The Fishes of the British Isles and North-West Europe. Macmillan, London, Melbourne and Toronto: pp. i-xvii+1-163, 5+177 fig., 392 fig. (princ. sp.), 92 n. num. fig., 16 pl., maps.

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