BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary
Prosopium williamsoni
Mountain Whitefish
| Scientific Name: | Prosopium williamsoni (Girard, 1856) | ||||||||||
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| English Name: | Mountain Whitefish | ||||||||||
| Classification / Taxonomy | |||||||||||
| Scientific Name - Concept Reference: | Robins, C.R., R.M. Bailey, C.E. Bond, J.R. Brooker, E.A. Lachner, R.N. Lea, and W.B. Scott. 1991. Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States and Canada. American Fisheries Society, Special Publication 20. 183 pp. | ||||||||||
| Classification Level: | Species | ||||||||||
| Species Group: | Vertebrate Animal | ||||||||||
| Species Code: | F-PRWI | ||||||||||
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| Conservation Status / Legal Designation | |||||||||||
| Global Status: | G5 (Sep 2022) | ||||||||||
| Provincial Status: | S5 (Jul 2025) | ||||||||||
| BC List: | Yellow | ||||||||||
| Provincial FRPA list: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Wildlife Act: | |||||||||||
| COSEWIC Status: | |||||||||||
| SARA Schedule: | |||||||||||
| General Status Canada: | 4 - Secure (2005) | ||||||||||
| Ecology & Life History | |||||||||||
| General Description: | |||||||||||
| Global Reproduction Comments: | Spawns late October-early November at 40-45 F in northern Idaho, November-early December in Great Basin. Eggs hatch in about 5 months at temperatures above 35 F. Sexually mature at 3-4 years; average longevity 7-8 years (Wydoski and Whitney 1979, Simpson and Wallace 1982, Sigler and Sigler 1987). | ||||||||||
| Migration Characteristics: (Global / Provincial) | |||||||||||
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Nonmigrant: Local Migrant: Distant Migrant: Within Borders Migrant: |
N / Y / N / na / |
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| Global Migration Comments: | Lake populations may migrate into tributaries to spawn. | ||||||||||
| Habitats: (Type / Subtype / Dependence) |
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| Global Habitat Comments: | Cold mountain lakes (to depths of at least 10 m) and fast, clear or silty streams with large pools. Stream populations spawn in riffles over gravel and small rubble. Lake populations move into tributaries to spawn or seek gravel shallows in lake. Eggs stick to bottom substrate. No nest is constructed. | ||||||||||
| Food Habits: |
Invertivore: Adult, Immature
Piscivore: Adult, Immature |
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| Global Food Habits Comments: | Feeds actively on aquatic and terrestrial insects. Also feeds on some fish eggs and occasionally on fishes. Bottom-oriented predator (Moyle 1976), occasionally feeds at surface (Sigler and Sigler 1987). | ||||||||||
| Global Phenology: |
Crepuscular: Adult, Immature
Nocturnal: Adult, Immature |
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| Global Phenology Comments: | Most feeding occurs at dusk and after dark. May feed more actively in cold winter months than in some of warmer summer months (Sigler and Sigler 1987). | ||||||||||
| Provincial Phenology: (1st half of month/ 2nd half of month) |
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| Colonial Breeder: | N | ||||||||||
| Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): | 57/ / | ||||||||||
| Elevation (m) (min / max): |
Global:
Provincial: |
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| Distribution | |||||||||||
| Endemic: | N | ||||||||||
| Global Range Comment: | Mackenzie River drainage (Arctic basin), Northwest Territories, south through western Canada and northwestern U.S. in Pacific, Hudson Bay, and upper Missouri River basins, to Truckee River drainage, Nevada, and Sevier River drainage, Utah; common (Page and Burr 1991). | ||||||||||
| Authors / Contributors | |||||||||||
| Global Information Author: | Hammerson, G. | ||||||||||
| Last Updated: | Sep 17, 1993 | ||||||||||
| Provincial Information Author: | |||||||||||
| Last Updated: | |||||||||||
| References and Related Literature | |||||||||||
Brown, C. J. D. 1971. Fishes of Montana. Big Sky Books, the Endowment and Research Foundation, Montana State University, Bozeman. MT. 207 pp. |
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Lee, D. S., C. R. Gilbert, C. H. Hocutt, R. E. Jenkins, D. E. McAllister, and J. R. Stauffer, Jr. 1980. Atlas of North American freshwater fishes. North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, Raleigh, North Carolina. i-x + 854 pp. |
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Mountain Whitefish. 1999. B.C. Fish Facts. Conserv. Sect., Fish. Manage. Branch, B.C. Minist. Fish. 2pp. |
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Moyle, P. B. 1976a. Inland fishes of California. University of California Press, Berkeley, California. 405 pp. |
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Page, L. M., and B. M. Burr. 1991. A field guide to freshwater fishes: North America north of Mexico. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts. 432 pp. |
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Robins, C.R., R.M. Bailey, C.E. Bond, J.R. Brooker, E.A. Lachner, R.N. Lea, and W.B. Scott. 1991. Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States and Canada. American Fisheries Society, Special Publication 20. 183 pp. |
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Scott, W. B., and E. J. Crossman. 1973. Freshwater fishes of Canada. Fisheries Research Board of Canada, Bulletin 184. 966 pp. |
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Sigler, W. F., and J. W. Sigler. 1987. Fishes of the Great Basin: a natural history. University of Nevada Press, Reno, Nevada. xvi + 425 pp. |
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Simpson, J. and R. Wallace. 1982. Fishes of Idaho. The University Press of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho. 238 pp. |
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Wydoski, R. S., and R. R. Whitney. 1979. Inland fishes of Washington. The University of Washington Press, Seattle. 220 pp. |
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Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.
Suggested Citation:
B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 1993. Species Summary: Prosopium williamsoni. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Oct 6, 2026).