European and Least Ciscoes

(known in Russia as riapushki), two species of semimigratory, freshwater fishes of the genus Coregonus (whitefish). The European cisco (C. albula) is distributed from Ireland to the basins of the Baltic and Barents seas; it is also found in some lakes of the Volga basin (Lake Pereslavskoe). There are semimigratory and lake forms. The European cisco reaches a length of 46 cm. The form that inhabits Lake Ladoga is C. albula ladogensis. The least cisco (C. sardinella) is distributed along the arctic coast, from the White Sea to North America. It is also found in the upper Volga and in Lake Beloe. The fish is abundant in Karelian lakes that are connected with the basin of the White Sea. There are semimigratory and freshwater forms. The least cisco reaches a length of 42 cm. The European and least ciscoes are commercially valuable.