Cisco (fish) - Eurasian Ciscoes

Eurasian Ciscoes

The ranges of the three cisco species above extend across Beringia to the Asian coasts. Of those the Arctic cisco and least cisco (=sardine cisco) are widespread through northern Siberia. In the inland waters of northern Europe, the European cisco or vendace (Coregonus albula) replaces the Siberian sardine cisco. Some of the cisco lineages are genetically very close, such as the European and sardine ciscoes. Within some species, geographically separated populations have been treated as distinct taxa, despite close genetic relationships, such as the vendace and the pollan (Arctic cisco) on the British Isles. The European cisco has also evolved into ecologically distinct sympatric populations or ecomorphs independently within several lakes (e.g. autumn and spring spawning populations, normal and dwarf morphs), which have been designated as distinct taxa, making the systematics complicated as with the North American Coregonus artedi complex.

• Bering cisco – Coregonus laurettae
• Arctic cisco – Coregonus autumnalis
  • Irish pollan - "Coregonus pollan": an Irish subspecies or group of populations
• Sardine cisco (= least cisco) – Coregonus sardinella
• Peled – Coregonus peled: part of the C. sardinella complex
• European cisco (=vendace) – Coregonus albula
  • "Coregonus vandesius": group of British populations
  • Stechlin cisco – Coregonus fontanae: local sympatric spring spawning dwarfed sister species
  • Coregonus trybomi: local sympatric spring-spawning sister species
  • Coregonus lucinensis: local sympatric dwarfed sister species