The gwyniad is a freshwater whitefish

Freshwater whitefish

The freshwater whitefish are fish of the subfamily Coregoninae in the salmon family Salmonidae. Along with the freshwater whitefish, the Salmonidae includes the freshwater and anadromous trout and salmon species as well as graylings...

 native to Bala Lake

Bala Lake

Bala Lake is a large lake in Gwynedd, Wales. It was the largest natural body of water in Wales prior to the level being raised by Thomas Telford to help support the flow of the Ellesmere Canal. It is long by wide, and is subject to sudden and dangerous floods. The River Dee runs through it and...

 (or Llyn Tegid) in northern Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

.

The population is threatened by deteriorating water quality and by the ruffe

Ruffe

The Eurasian Ruffe or simply Ruffe is a freshwater fish found in temperate regions of Europe and northern Asia. It has been introduced into the Great Lakes of North America, reportedly with unfortunate results...

, a fish introduced to the lake in the 1980s and now eating the eggs and fry of gwyniad. As a conservation measure, eggs of gwyniad have been transferred to Llyn Arenig Fawr

Llyn Arenig Fawr

Llyn Arenig Fawr is a lake and reservoir located near the summit of Arenig Fawr, a mountain in North Wales.The lake's primary purpose is to supply water to the nearby town of Bala and the numerous small villages in the surrounding area. From the lake it is an energetic uphill walk to the summit of...

, another nearby lake.Freyhof, J. & Kottelat, M. 2008. Coregonus pennantii. In: IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2010.1. . Downloaded on 17 April 2010.

In Britain the gwyniad is usually considered a population belonging to the widespread Eurasian common whitefish

Common whitefish

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 number of species in the genus Coregonus and the delimitation of the species Coregonus lavaretus.-Lavaret:In a narrow...

 (Coregonus lavaretus). By FishBase

FishBase

FishBase is a comprehensive database of information about fish species . It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web...

 and by IUCN, it is listed as a distinct species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of the Coregonus

Coregonus

Coregonus is a diverse genus of fish in the salmon family . The type species is the common whitefish . The Coregonus species are known as whitefishes...

genus, C. pennantii.

External links

• Coregonus lavaretus -Gwyniad first.nature.com