Coregonus fontanae

Coregonus fontanae
Conservation status

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Salmoniformes
Family: Salmonidae
Subfamily: Coregoninae
Genus: Coregonus
Species: C. fontanae
Binomial name
Coregonus fontanae
M. Schulz and Freyhof, 2003

Coregonus fontanae, also known as the Stechlin cisco, Fontane cisco, or Fontane's cisco, is a species of freshwater whitefish in the family Salmonidae endemic to the Großer Stechlinsee in northern Germany. It is believed to have recently evolved from the sympatric vendace, Coregonus albula.

Description

Coregonus fontanae is highly dwarfed, and is believed to be the world's smallest type of cisco.[2][3] The maximum length recorded for this species is 12.6 centimetres (5.0 in), and 10 centimetres (3.9 in) is believed to be a typical size.[4] Stechlin ciscoes are silvery pink in body color, with a bluish-brown back and glassy fins.[5][3]

The Stechlin cisco is taxonomically distinguished from the vendace and the other dwarfed cisco species by its low number of lateral line scales (69–77), by some bodily proportions, by the length of its gill rakers, by its slow growth, by its glassy fins, and by its spring spawning season.[5]

Taxonomy and evolution

The existence of two forms of vendace-like whitefish in Lake Stechlin was noted by G. Bauch in 1953 and A. K. Awand and colleagues in the 1990s.[6] During Maurice Kottelat and Jörg Freyhof's survey of the freshwater fish of Europe, the taxonomic status of the deviating form was more closely examined,[3] and Freyhof with M. Schulz described it as a separate species on the basis of its spring spawning season and small size.[5] They named it in honor of German literary figure Theodor Fontane, whose last completed novel, Der Stechlin, used Lake Stechlin's landscape as a backdrop.[5]

The Stechlin cisco represents the extreme of a pattern of cisco adaptive radiations into dwarf, spring-spawning, cold-tolerant forms in northern European lakes after the last glacial period 12,000 years ago.[5] The results of this evolution in various lakes were formerly considered to be single species, Coregonus trybomi, but mitochondrial DNA and allozyme studies show that the spring-spawning populations in various lakes each evolved independently from the vendace.[7][5] As of 2009, the Stechlin cisco was one of only three of these dwarf species that had been scientifically described,[8] the third being Coregonus lucinensis from the lake Breiter Luzin, 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the Großer Stechlinsee.[5][8]

Distribution

This species is restricted to the Großer Stechlinsee (also called Lake Stechlin), near the town of Stechlin in the north of Brandenburg state in Germany. Lake Stechlin is a deep, cool, chalky, oligotrophic lake of recent glacial origin. Lake Stechlin has an area of 4.3 square kilometres (1.7 sq mi) and reaches a maximum depth of 68 metres (223 ft)[5][9] and a mean depth of 22.8 metres (75 ft).[6] In Lake Stechlin, this species and the vendace (Coregonus albula) make up 95 percent of the fish biomass.[6] Lake Stechlin is part of Stechlin-Ruppiner Land Nature Park, and there are no threats to this species, so it is listed as Least Concern by the IUCN Red List.[1]

Ecology

Stechlin ciscoes feed primarily on cladocerans and copepods. They are found throughout the lake, though they are generally pelagic in cool, deep water.[2] They differ little in dietary preferences from the sympatric vendace, but they differ substantially in habitat.[6][10] They live to be four to five years old, and spawn in the spring, unlike the vendace.[2] They have been found to have a reduced metabolic rate as an adaptation to their habitat.[11]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Freyhof, J.; and Kottelat, M. (2008). "Coregonus fontanae". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2009.1. International Union for Conservation of Nature.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Freyhof, Jörg; Schaefer, Christian (October 25–27, 2002). Lebensraum, Biogeographie und Kulturgeschichte, ihr Einfluss auf die Fischartendiversität. Workshop des Leibniz-Institutes für Gewässerökologie und Binnenfischerei (IGB) und des Fördervereins „Naturlandschaft Stechlin und Menzer Heide“ (in German). Leibniz-Institut für Gewässerökologie und Binnenfischerei. Archived from the original on 22 January 2004. Retrieved 12 December 2009.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Owen, James (November 14, 2007). "57 New Freshwater Fish Species Found in Europe". National Geographic News. Retrieved 15 November 2009.
  4. ↑ Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2009). "Coregonus fontanae" in FishBase. 10 2009 version.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 Schulz, M.; Freyhof, J. (October 2002). "Coregonus fontanae, a new spring-spawning cisco from Lake Stechlin, northern Germany (Salmoniformes: Coregonidae).". Icthyological Exploration of Freshwaters 14 (3): 209–216. Archived from the original on 12 January 2004.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Helland, Ingebord Palm (2008). "Ecology of a sympatric pair of coregonid fish: Species interactions and temperature". Series of dissertations submitted to the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Oslo 795. ISSN 1501-7710.
  7. ↑ Schulz, M.; Freyhof, J.; Saint‐Laurent, R.; Østbye, K.; Mehner, T.; and Bernatchez, L. (March 13, 2006). "Evidence for independent origin of two spring‐spawning ciscoes (Salmoniformes: Coregonidae) in Germany". Journal of Fish Biology 68 (A): 119–135. doi:10.1111/j.0022-1112.2006.01039.x. ISSN 0022-1112.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2009). Species of Coregonus in FishBase. November 2009 version.
  9. ↑ International Lake Environment Committee. "Lake Stechlin". World Lake Database. Retrieved 18 November 2009.
  10. ↑ Ohlberger, Jan; Mehner, Thomas; Staaks, Georg; and Hölker, Franz (2008). "Is ecological segregation in a pair of sympatric coregonines supported by divergent feeding efficiencies?". Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 65 (10): 2105–2113. doi:10.1139/F08-120.
  11. ↑ Ohlberger, Jan; Mehner, T.; Staaks, G.; and Hölker, F. (March 12, 2008). "Temperature-related physiological adaptations promote ecological divergence in a sympatric species pair of temperate freshwater fish, Coregonus spp.". Functional Ecology 22 (3): 501–508. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2435.2008.01391.x. ISSN 0269-8463. Lay summary.

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