COREGONUS LABRADORICUS, THE SaULT WhITEFISH, AN In:TER- 



ESTiNG Addition to the Freshwater Fish Fauna of 

 Nova Scotia. — By Harry Piers, Curator of the Provin- 

 cial Museum, Halifax, N. S. 



(Read 14 May, 1924) 



Up till now, no indigenous form of the genus Coregonus, 

 or Whitelishes, of the family Salmonidae, has been reported 

 from the waters of Nova Scotia. 



Economic importance of the White fish. — The genus is of much 

 economic value elsewhere in the northern part of North America, 

 so that the occurrence here of any form of the genus is a matter 

 of much interest, and would suggest that any such form might 

 be successfully transplanted to other suitable localities in the 

 province, where it might thrive, increase, and become a food- 

 fish of considerable value. 



About 1877, an effort was first made by the Fishery De- 

 partment of the Dominion, to introduce into Nova Scotia the 

 Common Whitefish, Coregonuss clupeiformis (Mitchell), of the 

 Great Lakes, which has also been found as far east as New 

 Brunswick. After several such attempts on the part of the 

 Department, t© introduce that species here, the effort utterly 

 failed to be successful and probably not an example of the fish 

 is now to be found in our waters. 



Coregonus labradoricus of Richardson, the Sault Whitefish, 

 occurs from Lake Winnipeg and the Great Lakes region, to the 

 lakes of the Adirondacks and White Mountains, and northeast- 

 ward to Quebec Province, Labrador, and New Brunswick. 

 Dr. Philips Cox has found it in some of the lakes of the upper 

 St. John River, New Brunswick. It is generally abundant, 

 particularly at Sault Ste. Marie, between Lakes Superior and 

 Huron, in cold, clear lakes and large streams. It is of good 

 flavour and is valued as food, and reaches a length of 21 inches. 

 It is a variable form, as most of the Whitefishes are, and possi- 

 bly embraces several recognizable, but trival, varieties, depend- 

 ent probably on the conditions as to food, water, etc. 



The group to which it belongs is an extremly difficult one 

 to diagnose, as there seems to be much intergradation, so- 

 called species seeming to blend with other so-called species. 

 Even Coregonus labradoricus is by some regarded as a mere 

 variety of C. clupeiformis. 



