Cisco
(Coregonus artedi)
Cisco were once the most important commercially fished species in Lake Erie. In 1916 over 48 million pounds were harvested from Lake Erie. They were so abundant that a single ice fisherman could catch 300lbs of them in a single day.
Description
Cisco are a small slender member of the whitefish group of the Salmonidae family. They have large scales and a bright silver colored body. Like all members of the family they have an adipose fin (small fleshy fin just in front of their tail on their back), no spines in any of the fins, and the belly does not come to a sharp edge or keel. The mouth is moderately sized and terminal (ending at tip of snout) and they have a deeply forked tail. The closely related lake whitefish differs by being deeper bodied and having a smaller sub-terminal (ending below tip of snout) mouth. Additionally lake whitefish attain a much larger size.
Habitat and Habits
Cisco inhabit the deeper waters of the central and eastern basins of Lake Erie and move into shallower waters during late fall and early winter to spawn. Lake Eire is the southern edge of their native range. They were once the most important commercially harvested species in Lake Erie with over 48 million pounds harvested in 1916. By the late 1950's or early 1960's the population had crashed and the commercial harvest ceased. Today the cisco is a very rare species in Lake Erie but a very small population still remains in the central and eastern basins.
Reproduction and Care of the Young
Cisco move into shallower waters in late fall or early winter to spawn and return to deeper waters after the ice melts. They spawn over rock, sand or gravel and provide no parental care for the eggs or young.