The powan (Coregonus clupeoides) is a kind of freshwater whitefish endemic to two lochs in Scotland, Loch Lomond and Loch Eck. It has been successfully introduced in two other sites, Loch Sloy and the Carron Valley Reservoir.
Powan populations are relatively healthy, but may have been negatively impacted by the introduced ruffe, which eats powan eggs and fry. As a conservation action, an attempt to establish populations in four additional lakes has been undertaken.
The taxonomic status of the British whitefish populations, including powan, is a matter of debate. Currently the Scottish powan, along with the Welsh gwyniad known from a single lake, and four similar populations in England known as schelly, are generally considered belonging to the widespread Eurasian common whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus). This accords with the close genetic similarity among these units. The FishBase and IUCN however classify the Scottish powan as a distinct species, Coregonus clupeoides.
- Freyhof, J. & Kottelat, M. (2008) Coregonus clupeoides. In:IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2010.1. (Accessed 17 April 2010)
- Vendace and Powan: the Coregonids Dualchas Nàdair na h-Alba (Scottish Nature Heritage) (Accessed 17 April 2010)
- Powan project to ensure survival of rare UK fish species fishnewseu.com (9 February 2010)
- Hundreds of rare powan fish to be released into Loch Lomond in conservation effort news.scotsman.com (23 March 2010)
- Winfield, I,J., Fletcher, J.M. (2008) Hydroacoustic assessment of the introduced powan populations of Carron Valley Reservoir and Loch Sloy. Final Report. Natural Environment Research Council
- Etheridge E.C (2009) Aspects of the conservation biology of Coregonus lavaretus in Britain. University of Glasgow
- Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2010). "Coregonus clupeoides" in FishBase. March 2010 version.
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