Coregonus nigripinnis (Milner, 1874)
Blackfin cisco, Blackfin, Black-fin tullibee, Black-back tullibee, Black-fin, Mooneye cisco, Bluefin, cisco à nageoires noires
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Synonym/s: Argyrosomus nigripinnis Milner, 1874 (original combination); Coregonus nigripinnus (Milner, 1874)
The Blackfin cisco may simply be a variety of C. artedi (Gimenez Dixon, 1996; COSEWIC, 2007; Hammerson, 2024).
Conservation Status
Missing (Jelks et al., 2008:395) or Extinct (Williams et al., 1989:13; Burkhead, 2012)
Last record: 26 June 1923 (Miller et al. 1989:24), 1960 (COSEWIC, 2007) (Lake Huron); 26 November 1969 (Miller et al. 1989:24) (Lake Michigan)
IUCN RedList status: Data Deficient
Estimated date of extinction: 1969 (Burkhead, 2012)
Distribution
North America
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Milner, J. W. (1874). New species of Argyrosomus and Coregonus. United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, Report of the Commissioner for 1872-73: 86-89.
Other references:
Baillie, J. and Groombridge, B. (eds). (1996). 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. pp. 378. International Union for Conservation of Nature, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
Burkhead, Noel M. (2012). Extinction Rates in North American Freshwater Fishes, 1900–2010. BioScience 62(9): 798-808.
COSEWIC. (2007). COSEWIC assessment and update status report on the blackfin cisco Coregonus nigripinnis in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa, ON. vi + 23 pp.
Day, David. (1981). The Doomsday Book of Animals: A Natural History of Vanished Species. New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press.
Deacon, James E., Kobetich, Gail, Williams, James D. and Contreras, Salvador. (1979). Fishes of North America endangered, threatened, or of special concern: 1979. Fisheries 4(2): 29-44.
Dymond, J. R. (1926). The fishes of Lake Nipigon. Univ. Toronto Stud. Biol. Ser. 27, Publ. Ont. Fish. Res. Lab. 27: 1-108.
Dymond, J. R. (1943). The coregonine fishes of northwestern Canada. Trans. Roy. Can. Inst. 24(2): 171-231.
Dymond, J. R. and Pritchard, A. L. (1930). Some ciscoes or lake herrings of western Canada. Contrib. Can. Biol. Fish. n.s. 5(17): 467-474.
Evermann, B. W. and Smith, H. M. (1896). The whitefishes of North America. Rep. U.S. Fish Comm. (1894) 20: 283-324 + 18 pls.
Gimenez Dixon, M. (1996a). Coregonus nigripinnis. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.1. (http://www.iucnredlist.org). Downloaded on 09 July 2011.
Gimenez Dixon, M. (1996b). Coregonus nigripinnis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 1996: e.T5371A11124753. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.1996.RLTS.T5371A11124753.en. Accessed on 02 July 2022.
Groombridge, B. (ed.). (1994). 1994 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
Hammerson, G. A. (2024). Coregonus nigripinnis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2024: e.T5371A15362672. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2024-2.RLTS.T5371A15362672.en. Accessed on 15 April 2025.
Hoy, P. R. (1872). Deep-water fauna of Lake Michigan. Trans. Wis. Acad. Sci. Arts Lett. 1870-1872: 98-101.
IUCN. (1990). IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre. (1986). 1986 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre. (1988). IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
Jelks, Howard L., Walsh, Stephen J., Burkhead, Noel M., Contreras-Balderas, Salvador, Díaz-Pardo, Edmundo, Hendrickson, Dean A., Lyons, J., Mandrak, Nicholas E., McCormick, Frank, Nelson, Joseph F., Platania, Steven P., Porter, Brady A., Renaud, Claude B., Schmitter-Soto, Juan Jacabo, Taylor, Eric B. and Warren, Melvin L. Jr. (2008). Conservation status of imperiled North American freshwater and diadromous fishes. Fisheries 33(8): 372-407.
Jordan, D. S. and Evermann, B. W. (1911). A review of the salmonoid fishes of the Great Lakes, with notes on the whitefishes of other regions. Bull. Bur. Fish. 29 (1909), doc. 737: 1-41 + 7 pls.
Keleher, J. J. (1952). Growth and Triaenophorus parasitism in relation to taxonomy of Lake Winnipeg ciscoes (Leucichthys). J. Fish. Res. Board Canada 8(7): 469-478.
Koelz, W. (1929). Coregonid fishes of the Great Lakes. Bull. U. S. Bur. Fish 43: 297-643.
Kooyman, A. H. (1970). Taxonomy of the whitefishes in Waskesiu Lake, Saskatchewan. M.Sc. Thesis. Dep. Biol., Univ. Calgary, Calgary, Alta. 88 pp.
Mandrak, N. E., Pratt, T. C. and Reid, S. M. (2014). Evaluating the current status of deepwater ciscoes (Coregonus spp.) in Canadian waters of Lake Huron, 2002-2012, with emphasis on Shortjaw Cisco (C. zenithicus). DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Res. Doc. 2013/108. v + 12 pp.
Miller, Robert Rush, Williams, James D. and Williams, Jack E. (1989). Extinctions of North American fishes during the past century. Fisheries 14(6): 22-38.
Moffett, J. W. (1957). Recent changes in the deep-water fish populations of Lake Michigan. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc. 86 (1956): 393-408.
Parker, B. J. (1989). Status of the blackfin cisco, Coregonus nigripinnis in Canada. Can. Field Nat. 103: 9-162.
Robins, C.R., R.M. Bailey, C.E. Bond, J.R. Brooker, E.A. Lachner, R.N. Lea, and W.B. Scott. (1991). Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States and Canada. American Fisheries Society, Special Publication 20. 183 pp.
Scott, William Beverley, Crossman, E. J., Odum, Anker (illustrator) and Buerschaper, Peter (illustrator). (1973). Freshwater fishes of Canada. Fisheries Research Board of Canada Bulletin 184: xi + 966 pp. [mainly pp. 256-259]
Smith, H. M. (1895). Notes on two hitherto unrecognized species of American whitefishes. Bull. U.S. Fish Comm. 1894, 14: 1-13.
Todd, Thomas N. (1981). Coregonus prognathus Smith: a nomen dubium. Copeia 1981(2): 489-490. https://doi.org/10.2307/1444250
Williams, Jack E., Johnson, James E., Hendrickson, Dean A., Contreras-Balderas, Salvador, Williams, James D., Navarro-Mendoza, Miguel, McAllister, Don E. and Deacon, James E. (1989). Fishes of North America endangered, threatened, or of special concern: 1989. Fisheries 14(6): 2-20 [13].
https://www.extinction.photo/species/blackfin-cisco/