Coregonus fera
| Coregonus fera | |
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C. fera
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| Coregonus fera (Jurine, 1825)
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Coregonus fera, commonly called the true fera is a presumed extinct freshwater fish from Lake Geneva in Switzerland and France.
Description
The status of the fera is disputed. In 1950 Emile Dottrens described Coregonus fera as both native to Lake Geneva and Lake Constance. The coregonines from Lake Constance were named sandfelchen. In 1997 Maurice Kottelat made a revision and used the name Coregonus fera for the fera and Coregonus arenicolus for the sandfelchen.
The fera reached a length between 35 and 40 centimetres.
Biology
The fera was a benthopelagic freshwater fish that swam in the water column near the lake bottom, feeding upon zooplankton. Spawning occurred from February to mid-March.
Extinction
Together with the equally extinct gravenche (Coregonus hiemalis) it was one of the most caught freshwater fishes in Lake Geneva. In 1890 the fishing quota of these two fishes constituted 68% of all caught fishes in Lake Geneva. Due to a combination of overexploitation and heavy hybridisation with introduced coregonus species, it became extremely scarce in the 1920s. It was still present in 1950 but was not found in 1958.
References
- Maurice Kottelat: European Freshwater Fishes. An heuristic checklist of the freshwater fishes of Europe (exclusive of former USSR), with an introduction for non-systematists and comments on nomenclature and conservation; Biologia: Section Zoology vol. 52/5, Slovak Academic Press, Bratislava 1997, ISBN 80-85665-87-5
- Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2010). "Coregonus fera" in FishBase. February 2010 version.
