BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary
Coregonus artedi
Cisco
| Scientific Name: | Coregonus artedi Lesueur, 1818 | ||||||||||
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| English Name: | Cisco | ||||||||||
| Classification / Taxonomy | |||||||||||
| Scientific Name - Concept Reference: | Etnier, D. A., and C. E. Skelton. 2003. Analysis of three cisco forms (Coregonus, Salmonidae) from Lake Saganaga and adjacent lakes near the Minnesota/Ontario border. Copeia 2003:739-749. | ||||||||||
| Classification Level: | Species | ||||||||||
| Species Group: | Vertebrate Animal | ||||||||||
| Species Code: | F-COAR | ||||||||||
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| Conservation Status / Legal Designation | |||||||||||
| Global Status: | G4 (Oct 2025) | ||||||||||
| Provincial Status: | S2 (Sep 2025) | ||||||||||
| BC List: | Red | ||||||||||
| Provincial FRPA list: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Wildlife Act: | |||||||||||
| COSEWIC Status: | |||||||||||
| SARA Schedule: | |||||||||||
| General Status Canada: | 4 - Secure (2005) | ||||||||||
| Ecology & Life History | |||||||||||
| General Description: | |||||||||||
| Global Reproduction Comments: | Generally a fall spawner; spring spawning populations are known in Lac des Ecorces, Quebec (mid-May to early June), and in the Lake Superior drainage (which also has a fall spawning population) (Henault and Fortin 1991). Sexually mature usually in 3-6 years (at age 3 in Lac des Ecorces). | ||||||||||
| Migration Characteristics: (Global / Provincial) | |||||||||||
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Nonmigrant: Local Migrant: Distant Migrant: Within Borders Migrant: |
Y / Y / N / na / |
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| Habitats: (Type / Subtype / Dependence) |
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| Global Habitat Comments: | Habitat includes open waters of lakes and large rivers; coastal waters of Hudson Bay (Page and Burr 1991). Individuals move into deeper water, to just below thermocline, in summer. Sometimes this fish occurs in large rivers. Spawning often occurs in shallow water (1-3 meters deep) over gravel or stony substrate, but also may occur pelagically in midwater (Great Lakes). Eggs usually are deposited on the bottom. Spring spawners in Lac des Ecorces, Quebec, deposited eggs in the deeper section (>20 meters) of the lake (Henault and Fortin 1991). | ||||||||||
| Provincial Habitat Comments: | Collected in a large, boreal lake at 1.3 and 4 m depths in mid-summer (O91PMV01BCCA). Found both near shore and 1.6 km offshore. | ||||||||||
| Food Habits: |
Invertivore: Adult, Immature
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| Global Food Habits Comments: | Eats mainly zooplankton; also invertebrates from surface, fish eggs and fry. | ||||||||||
| Global Phenology: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Phenology: (1st half of month/ 2nd half of month) |
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| Colonial Breeder: | N | ||||||||||
| Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): | 48/ / | ||||||||||
| Elevation (m) (min / max): |
Global:
Provincial: |
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| Distribution | |||||||||||
| Endemic: | N | ||||||||||
| Global Range Comment: | This species is widespread in Canada and the northern United States in the Atlantic and Arctic basins from Quebec to Northwest Territories and south to the St. Lawrence-Great Lakes and upper Mississippi River basins, northern Ohio, Illinois, and inland lakes in Minnesota (Page and Burr 2011). | ||||||||||
| Authors / Contributors | |||||||||||
| Global Information Author: | Hammerson, G. | ||||||||||
| Last Updated: | Nov 04, 2011 | ||||||||||
| Provincial Information Author: | CANNINGS, S.G. | ||||||||||
| Last Updated: | Jan 20, 1992 | ||||||||||
| References and Related Literature | |||||||||||
Anderson, E.D. and L.L. Smith, Jr. 1971a. Factors affecting abundance of lake herring Coregonus artedii (Lesueur) in western Lake Superior. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. 100(4):691-707. |
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Becker, G. C. 1983. Fishes of Wisconsin. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison. 1,052 pp. |
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Dryer, W.R., and J. Beil. 1964. Life history of the lake herring in Lake Superior. U.S. Fish Wildl. Ser. Bull. 63(3): 493-530. |
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Henault, M., and R. Fortin. 1991. Early life stages, growth, and reproduction of spring-spawning ciscoes (COREGONUS ARTEDII) in Lac des Ecorces, Quebec. Can. J. Zool. 69:1644-1652. |
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Henault, M., and R. Fortin. 1992. Status report on the spring cisco Coregonus artedi ssp. in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). 17 pp. |
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Herkert, J. R., editor. 1992. Endangered and threatened species of Illinois: status and distribution. Vol. 2: Animals. Illinois Endangered Species Protection Board. iv + 142 pp. |
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Koelz, W. 1931. The coregonid fishes of northeastern America. Papers of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters 13:303-342. |
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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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Lindsey, C. C., and C. S. Woods, eds. 1970. Biology of coregonid fishes. University of Manitoba Press, Winnepeg. |
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McPhail, J.D. 2007. The freshwater fishes of British Columbia. The University of Alberta Press, Edmonton, Alberta. |
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Newell, A.J. 1976. The relationship of age, growth, and food habits to the relative success of the whitefish, Coregonus clupeaformis, and the cisco, C. artedii, in Otsego Lake, New York. Occas. Pap. Biol. Field Sta. (Cooperstown, N.Y.) 2, vii + 68 pp |
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Nielsen, J. L., editor. 1995. Evolution and the aquatic ecosystem: defining unique units in population conservation. American Fisheries Society Symposium 17, Bethesda, Maryland. xii + 435 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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Peters, C.E. and G.W. LaBar. 1980. Fecundity of an unexploited population of ciscoes in three areas of Lake Champlain. N. Y. Fish Game. J. 27(1): 72-78. |
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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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Todd, T. N., and R. M. Stedman. 1989. Hybridization of ciscoes (COREGONUS spp.) in Lake Huron. Can. J. Zool. 67:1679-1685. |
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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. 2011. Species Summary: Coregonus artedi. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Oct 22, 2026).