''Coregonus gutturosus'', the Lake Constance whitefish, is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

species of whitefish in the salmon family

Salmonidae Salmonidae (, ) is a family (biology), family of ray-finned fish, the only extant member of the suborder Salmonoidei, consisting of 11 extant genera and over 200 species collectively known as "salmonids" or "salmonoids". The family includes salmo ...

. It was formerly found only in deep areas of

Lake Constance Lake Constance (, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein (). These ...

in the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

Extinction

''Coregonus gutturosus'' was a deep water whitefish that reached a length of . ''Coregonus gutturosus'' was highly sensitive to environmental changes and it is thought that the

eutrophication Eutrophication is a general term describing a process in which nutrients accumulate in a body of water, resulting in an increased growth of organisms that may deplete the oxygen in the water; ie. the process of too many plants growing on the s ...

of Lake Constance, which peaked in 1979, irreversibly affected the development of the eggs of the species. Surveys undertaken at the start of the 21st century failed to find any evidence of the survival of the Lake Constance whitefish.

References

gutturosus Fish described in 1818 Freshwater fish of Europe Lake Constance Cold water fish Extinct animals of Europe Fish extinctions since 1500 {{Salmoniformes-stub