The gravenche (''Coregonus hiemalis''), also known as the Lake Geneva whitefish or the little fera, is a presumably extinct freshwater fish from

Lake Geneva Lake Geneva is a deep lake on the north side of the Alps, shared between Switzerland and France. It is one of the List of largest lakes of Europe, largest lakes in Western Europe and the largest on the course of the Rhône. Sixty percent () ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Description

The gravenche was a species of

freshwater whitefish The freshwater whitefish are fishes of the subfamily Coregoninae, which contains whitefishes (both freshwater and anadromous) and ciscoes, and is one of three subfamilies in the salmon family Salmonidae. Apart from the subfamily Coregoninae, ...

(Coregoninae) that reached a length between .Christian Trépey
Corégone (Féra - Palée)
www.plongee-passion.ch The status of the gravenche is disputed because there are no specimens in museums. While

Emile Dottrens Emile or Émile may refer to: * Émile (novel) (1827), autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life * Emile, Canadian film made in 2003 by Carl Bessai * '' Emile: or, On Education'' (1762) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a treatise o ...

described it as subspecies of the common whitefish ''

Coregonus lavaretus ''Coregonus lavaretus'' is a species of freshwater whitefish, in the family Salmonidae. It is the type species of its genus '' Coregonus''. There are widely different concepts about the delimitation of the species ''Coregonus lavaretus'' and abo ...

'' in 1958, other experts like

Maurice Kottelat Maurice Kottelat (born 16 July 1957 in Delémont, SwitzerlandC ...

regarded it as a full species endemic to

.Maurice Kottelat: ''European Freshwater Fisches. 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, Kottelat, M. & Freyhof, J. (2007). Handbook of European Freshwater Fishes. Cornol & Berlin: Kottelat & Freyhof.

Biology

The gravenche is a

benthopelagic The demersal zone is the part of the sea or ocean (or deep lake) consisting of the part of the water column near to (and significantly affected by) the seabed and the benthos. The demersal zone is just above the benthic zone and forms a layer of ...

freshwater fish Freshwater fish are fish species that spend some or all of their lives in bodies of fresh water such as rivers, lakes, ponds and inland wetlands, where the salinity is less than 1.05%. These environments differ from marine habitats in many wa ...

that swam in the water column near the lake bottom, feeding upon

zooplankton Zooplankton are the heterotrophic component of the planktonic community (the " zoo-" prefix comes from ), having to consume other organisms to thrive. Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents. Consequent ...

Spawning Spawn is the Egg cell, eggs and Spermatozoa, sperm released or deposited into water by aquatic animals. As a verb, ''to spawn'' refers to the process of freely releasing eggs and sperm into a body of water (fresh or marine); the physical act is ...

occurred in mid-December.

Extinction

Together with the likewise extinct true fera (''Coregonus fera''), the gravenche was one of the most important species for fisheries in

in the late 19th century. In 1890 these two fishes made up 68% of all fish caught in the lake.

Overfishing Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing Fish stocks, fish stock), resu ...

and

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 ...

drove the gravenche to near extinction and it was last seen in the early 1900s. Note: this source states that an introduced population of the gravenche, used for stockings, would still exist in the French Lake Aiguebette, in contrast to the IUCN account; this may represent confounding of information on different species.

References

External links

Catalog of Fishes Corregonus hiemalis
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1543946 Coregonus Fish described in 1825 Freshwater fish of Europe Lake fish Lake Geneva Cold water fish Extinct animals of Europe Fish extinctions since 1500 Species made extinct by human activities