Round whitefish

Round whitefish
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Salmoniformes
Family:	Salmonidae
Subfamily:	Coregoninae
Genus:	Prosopium
Species:	P. cylindraceum
Binomial name
Prosopium cylindraceum (Pennant, 1784)

The round whitefish (Prosopium cylindraceum) is a freshwater species of fish that is found in lakes from Alaska to New England, including the Great Lakes. It has an olive-brown back with light silvery sides and underside and its size is generally between 9 and 19 inches long. They are bottom feeders, feeding mostly on invertebrates, such as crustaceans, insect larvae, and fish eggs. Some other fish species, like white sucker in turn eat their eggs. Lake trout, northern pike and burbot are natural predators. Other common names of the round whitefish are menominee, pilot fish, frost fish, round-fish, and menominee whitefish. The common name "round whitefish" is also sometimes used to describe Coregonus huntsmani, a salmonid more commonly known as the Atlantic whitefish.

While it was once common, numbers have been decreasing in the last century due to a number of possible causes. The round whitefish is now protected in some states, such as New York, under the Endangered Species Act from harvest or possession. In Alaska, the whitefish is occasionally caught by anglers, but in general, the fish is not sought after, is rarely caught, since it is a bottom feeder; and the species is not protected.^[1]

References

1. ^ http://kenai.fws.gov/Wildlife/fish/fish.htm

• "Prosopium cylindraceum". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=162008. Retrieved 6 June 2006. 
• Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2005). "Prosopium cylindraceum" in FishBase. November 2005 version.

External links

• New York State Department of Environmental Conservation fact sheet
• Wisconsin Sea Grant Fish of the Great Lakes fact sheet