Prosopium williamsoni, Mountain whitefish : fisheries, gamefish

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Prosopium williamsoni (Girard, 1856)

Mountain whitefish
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Prosopium williamsoni
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Salmoniformes (Salmons) > Salmonidae (Salmonids) > Coregoninae
Etymology: Prosopium: Greek, prosopon = face (Ref. 45335);  williamsoni: Named after Lieut. R. S. Williamson of the U.S. Pacific Railroad Exploration..
More on author: Girard.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Freshwater; benthopelagic; depth range 5 - 20 m (Ref. 1998), usually 5 - 6 m (Ref. 1998). Temperate; ? - 23°C (Ref. 12741); 68°N - 39°N

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

North America: Mackenzie River drainage in Northwest Territory, Canada south through western Canada and northwestern USA in the Pacific, Hudson Bay and upper Missouri River basins to Truckee River drainage in Nevada and Sevier River drainage in Utah, USA.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 70.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 40637); common length : 23.4 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 12193); max. published weight: 2.9 kg (Ref. 40637); max. reported age: 17 years (Ref. 72462)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 11-15; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 10 - 13; Vertebrae: 53 - 61. Body slender, elongate, nearly cylindrical in cross section but variable, more compressed laterally than round whitefish. Head short; eye moderate, its diameter less than snout length; snout more or less pointed, compressed laterally, pinched, rounded in lateral view, a single flap of skin present between nostrils. Mouth small, ventral in position, overhung by snout; maxillaries extending posteriorly almost to anterior margin of eye in adults. Teeth small, restricted to a small patch on tongue and on gill rakers in adults, although small teeth may be present on the premaxillaries in young, but absent from jaws, vomer, palatines and pre maxillae in adults. Overall coloration silvery, but light or dark brown or olive on back, becoming silvery in sides and white below. Scales, specially on back, may have pigmented borders. dorsal fin often dusky, pelvic and pectoral fins in adults with amber tint.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Occurs in lakes and fast, clear or silty streams. Feeds mainly on benthic organisms such as aquatic insect larvae, mollusks, fishes, and fish eggs (including their own) but may feed on plankton and surface insects when the need arises (Ref. 1998).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Page, L.M. and B.M. Burr, 1991. A field guide to freshwater fishes of North America north of Mexico. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 432 p. (Ref. 5723)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)


CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: minor commercial; gamefish: yes
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
Stocks
Ecology
Diet
Food items
Food consumption
Ration
Common names
Synonyms
Metabolism
Predators
Ecotoxicology
Reproduction
Maturity
Spawning
Spawning aggregation
Fecundity
Eggs
Egg development
Age/Size
Growth
Length-weight
Length-length
Length-frequencies
Morphometrics
Morphology
Larvae
Larval dynamics
Recruitment
Abundance
BRUVS
References
Aquaculture
Aquaculture profile
Strains
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Heritability
Diseases
Processing
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Mass conversion
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Stamps, Coins Misc.
Sounds
Ciguatera
Speed
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Gill area
Otoliths
Brains
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Tools

Special reports

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Alien/Invasive Species database | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5156   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00501 (0.00411 - 0.00611), b=3.19 (3.14 - 3.24), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.7   ±0.1 se; based on diet studies.
Generation time: 6.8 ( na - na) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 1 growth studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (tmax=14).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  High vulnerability (55 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Very high.