Schelly

Schelly
Schelly
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Salmoniformes
Family: Salmonidae
Subfamily: Coregoninae
Genus: Coregonus
Species: C. stigmaticus
Binomial name
Coregonus stigmaticus
(Regan, 1908)

The schelly (Coregonus stigmaticus) is a designation for four populations of freshwater whitefish in the English Lake District, Cumbria. The native populations of this fish inhabit the Brothers Water, Haweswater, Red Tarn and Ullswater, and occupy a total area of about 20 square kilometers.[1] Apart from Haweswater, the populations appear stable.[1]

At Haweswater, the fishery officers are now culling all of the cormorants that visit the lake, in order to protect the endangered fish. An analysis of reservoir management data over a 30 year period (1961-1991) has revealed that the decline of the schelly population is associated with increased water abstraction and reduced water levels. Entrapment during abstraction is not significant. Year class strength is probably determined by lake levels during the January-March spawning and incubation period whereas subsequent growth rate is influenced by lake levels during June-October.

In Britain the schelly populations are usually considered as members of the widespread Eurasian whitefish species Coregonus lavaretus, or common whitefish, as with the Welsh gwyniad and Scottish powan.[2][3][4] The schelly is however listed as a distinct species of Coregonus, C. stigmaticus, in FishBase and by the IUCN.[5][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Freyhof, J. & Kottelat, M. (2008) Coregonus stigmaticus In: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2010.1.
  2. ^ Maitland, P.S. (1990) Status of the schelly, Coregonus lavaretus (L.), in Red Tarn, Cumbria, England Journal of Natural History, 24, 1067-1074.
  3. ^ Vendace and Powan: the Coregonids Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba (Scottish Nature Heritage) (Accessed 17 April 2010)
  4. ^ Etheridge E.C (2009) Aspects of the conservation biology of Coregonus lavaretus in Britain. University of Glasgow
  5. ^ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2009). "Coregonus stigmaticus" in FishBase. Jan 2009 version.


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