Editing Cisco (fish) (section)

==Continental North American ciscoes: ''Coregonus artedi'' sensu lato==
Eight taxa of cisco have been recognized in the [[Saint Lawrence River|Laurentian]] [[Great Lakes (North America)|Great Lakes]] and other interior lakes of the once-glaciated North America.<ref name=SC>Scott, W.B., Crossman, E.J. (1973) Freshwater Fishes of Canada. ''Bull. Fish. Res. B. Canada'' 184, 1–1092</ref>

* †[[Longjaw cisco]]  – ''Coregonus alpenae''
* [[Coregonus artedi|Cisco]] (lake cisco, northern cisco, or lake herring) – ''Coregonus artedi''
* †[[Deepwater cisco]]  – ''Coregonus johannae''
* [[coregonus hoyi|Bloater]]  – ''Coregonus hoyi''
* [[Kiyi]]  – ''Coregonus kiyi''
* †[[Blackfin cisco]]  – ''Coregonus nigripinnis''
* [[Shortnose cisco]] – ''Coregonus reighardi'' (thought to be possibly extinct, rediscovered)
* [[Shortjaw cisco]]  – ''Coregonus zenithicus''

Usually, several taxa of ciscoes are found in a single lake. They exhibit different habitat distributions, feeding and breeding habits and morphological adaptations e.g. in their [[gill raker]] numbers. In the Great Lakes, at least five ciscoes coexist.<ref name=TB/>

According to genetic analyses, these cisco types do not represent unique, separate evolutionary lineages, but similar cisco morphs have evolved and attained their specific characteristics largely independently in each lake. Therefore, it has been suggested that they should not be recognized formally as distinct taxa, but all considered members of a single species, ''Coregonus artedi'' ([[sensu lato]]).<ref name=TB/> or ''Coregonus artedi'' complex. Nevertheless, for conservation and management purposes the sympatric morphs in each lake should be considered [[evolutionarily significant unit|ESU]]s, evolutionarily significant units.<ref name=TB/> This taxonomic view is not widely accepted however, which has complicated discussions of the conservation status of some species.<ref>COSEWIC (2007). [http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2007/ec/CW69-14-221-2007E.pdf COSEWIC assessment and update status report of the blackfin cisco ''Coregonus nigripinnis'' in Canada] Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. vi + 23 pp</ref>

Ciscoes have been exploited in commercial fisheries, particularly in the Laurentian Great Lakes where the deepwater forms were the basis of the so-called chub fishery. The chub fishery had nothing to do with the various [[cyprinid]] fish species known as chubs but was exclusively based on the various species of ciscoes. The fishery continued as cisco stocks fell and non-native species such as [[sea lamprey]], [[rainbow smelt]] and [[alewife (fish)|alewife]] spread through the system and increased in abundance. Alewife, in particular, have been implicated as a predator of cisco eggs and larvae, and as a competitor with ciscoes. The fishery shifted focus from species to species as cisco numbers declined and has been largely defunct for some years.
[[Image:Lauretta whitefish.jpg|thumb|Bering cisco]]