Fish of the Coregonus (whitefishes) genus of the Coregoninae subfamily of the Salmonidae family of the Salmoniformes order of the Protacanthopterygii superorder.
(European whitefish. Photo © russfishing.de)
European whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus) was first described in 1758 by the Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778). It’s a schooling pelagic species. The recorded maximum length is 73 cm. The maximum weight is 10 kilograms. It feeds on planktonic crustaceans and small fishes.
(European whitefish. Photo © rktl.fi)
It’s the introduced species that inhabits the following lakes: the Como (Lario), Garlate, Maggiore and other water bodies of northern Italy. It was released in the water bodies of Croatia, in particular, the Peruća Lake as well.
It is listed in IUCN Red List as a vulnerable species (VU).
Names of European whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus) in other languages are as follows:
Velika ozimica (Croatian, Serbian, Slovenian), Marena velka (Czech), Grote marene (Dutch), Corégone lavaret (French), Lavaret (German), Κορήγονος (Korigonos) (Greek), Nagy maréna (Hungarian), Lavarello (Italian), Lavareto (Spanish), Sieja (Polish), Coregono-lavareda (Portuguese), Обыкновенный сиг (Obyknovennij sig) (Russian).