Lake Ontario and Great Lakes kiyi COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 3

Species Information

Name and classification

Kingdom:

Animalia

Phylum:

Chordata

Class:

Actinopterygii

Order:

Salmoniformes

Family:

Salmonidae

Subfamily:

Coregoninae

Genus and Species:

Coregonus kiyi (Koelz, 1921)

Common English name:

kiyi (Nelson et al. 2004)

Common French name:

kiyi

Subspecies:

Coregonus kiyi kiyi Koeltz, 1929

Common English name:

upper Great Lakes kiyi (Nelson et al. 2004)

Common French name:

kiyi du secteur supérieur des Grands Lacs

Subspecies:

Coregonus kiyi orientalis (Koeltz, 1929)

Common English name:

Lake Ontario kiyi (NatureServe 2005)

Common French name:

kiyi du lac Ontario

The kiyi is one of 10 cisco species found in Canada (Scott and Crossman 1998), one of seven cisco species found in the Great Lakes (Cudmore-Vokey and Crossman 2000), and one of six cisco species identified as an incipient species flock endemic to the Great Lakes by Koelz (1929). These counts exclude the longjaw cisco (C. alpenae), described by Koelz (1929) and included in Scott and Crossman (1998) as it is considered a synonym of shortjaw cisco (C. zenithicus) by Todd et al. (1981). Two (blackfin cisco, C. nigripinnis, and shortjaw cisco, C. zenithicus) of the six valid species, originally identified as ‘endemic’ to the Great Lakes by Koelz (1929), may occur outside of the Great Lakes basin (Lee et al. 1980, Mandrak and Crossman 1992). The remaining three are the bloater (C. hoyi), the deepwater cisco (C. johannae) and shortnose cisco (C. reighardi). The seventh cisco found in the Great Lakes, but with a wider Canadian distribution, is the cisco, or lake herring (C. artedii).

Research on the shortjaw cisco (C. zenithicus) revealed that Great Lakes and inland populations of this species were genetically indistinguishable from the cisco (C. artedi); however, the shortjaw cisco is still considered to be a valid species (Todd et al. 1981, Turgeon et al. 1999, Turgeon and Bernatchez 2003). This may be an indication that some, or all, of the endemic cisco species may actually be ecomorphotypes of the cisco (C. artedi), rather than valid species. If, in future, this were shown to be true for the kiyi, the kiyi would still be considered an evolutionarily significant unit (ESU) or, at the very least, a unique morphotype. To date, a taxonomic revision of the ‘endemic’ ciscoes has not been undertaken; therefore, the endemic species should be considered valid.

Description

The kiyi (Coregonus kiyi) is a member of the subfamily Coregoninae of the family Salmonidae (Robins et al. 1991) (Figure 1). It is characterized by a large eye (22.2-26.4% of head length), terminal mouth with lower jaw usually extending beyond upper jaw, lower jaw with distinct symphyseal knob or projection, pigmented maxillary, 34-47 gill rakers, and long paired fins (Scott and Crossman 1998, Todd, no date). The kiyi can be distinguished from the other cisco species found in the Great Lakes by its unique combination of large eye and long paired fins (Todd, no date).

Figure 1. Kiyi, Coregonus kiyi. Note that this figure illustrates the less common upper jaw projecting beyond lower jaw, rather than the lower jaw projecting beyond the upper jaw. Illustration by Joe Tomelleri. Reproduced with permission of Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Figure 1.  Kiyi, Coregonus kiyi. Note that this figure illustrates the less common upper jaw projecting beyond lower jaw, rather than the lower jaw projecting beyond the upper jaw. Illustration by Joe Tomelleri. Reproduced with permission of Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Designatable units

All Canadian populations are found within the Great Lakes-Western St. Lawrence ecozone of the freshwater ecozone classification adopted by COSEWIC (COSEWIC 2003). Based on morphological data, Koelz (1929) considered the Lake Ontario population to be one subspecies (C. kiyi orientalis), and the upper Great Lakes population(s) to consist of a second subspecies (C. kiyi kiyi). Thus, two designatable units could be recognized, based on differences of morphology, and the fact that they were never co-occurring in the same Great Lake (NatureServe 2005).

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