European Whitefish Coregonus lavaretus

The European Whitefish, also called Common Whitefish, Houting and several local names, is primarily a freshwater fish native to coldwater rivers and deep lakes of northern and central Europe, but is also present in some brakish waters (eg North Sea Houting) and some are present in marine coastal water. Several populations move upstream to spawn like related salmon.

Coregonus lavaretus is a complex rather than a unique species. In a narrow sense it refers to Whitefish in some French Alpine lakes (and formerly also in Lake Geneva). In a wider sense, it covers Houting and other European Whitefish in the Rhine, Baltic/Scandinavia, UK (rare now) and elsewhere. However, some Whitefish in European rivers and lakes remain distinct, differently-evolved species on DNA evidence. The Whitefish has a silvery body with white belly, an underslung mouth and can grow to about half a metre long. Shown is the Danish Houting (which could be Coregonus maraena; the North Sea Houting, Coregonus oxyrhinchus is a gonner - unless it is the same as the Common Whitefish/Lavaret).

In the UK, the North Sea Houting was declared extinct but DNA evidence now classifies other local deep-lake whitefish such as the Lake District Schelly, the Scottish Powan and the Welsh Gwyniad as the same species - the European Whitefish complex.