Least Cisco: Facts & Habitat

About Least Cisco

Coregonus sardinella, known as the least cisco or the sardine cisco, is a fresh- and brackishwater salmonid fish that inhabits rivers, estuaries and coastal waters of the marginal seas of the Arctic Basin, as well as some large lakes of those areas.

NativeFresh Salt Brackish1 states

In North America it is found from the Murchison River (Nunavut) west through the Bering Strait to the Bristol Bay (Bering Sea) in Alaska, and in the Russian Arctic from the northern part of the Bering Sea across the Siberian Arctic coast to the Kara Sea and Kara River and further to the Pechora River drainage on the European side. It has been introduced in some lakes and rivers in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

Coregonus sardinella is closely related to the European cisco or vendace Coregonus albula, and also is close to the Siberian peled whitefish C. peled. Most recently, it has been argued to be the same species as the European cisco.

Article text: Wikipedia contributors, Coregonus sardinella (source revision). Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Retrieved 2026-10-11.

Range

Where it lives

100%of mapped records

Share of 184 GBIF observation records with a state location, across 1 states.

Share of records by state

Alaska100%

Habitat

Water and movement

Water: WoRMS records this species in fresh water, brackish water and the sea.
Migration: Undetermined
Pattern: Anadromous — spawns in fresh water, grows at sea
Amphidromous — moves between fresh water and the sea, but not to spawn
Potamodromous — migrates within fresh water
Disagreement: 8 published references do not agree on the pattern: Anadromous, Non-migratory, Potamodromous. The site shows every assignment rather than picking one.

Classification

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Superclass: Actinopterygii
Class: Teleostei
Order: Salmoniformes
Family: Salmonidae
Genus: Coregonus
Species: Coregonus sardinella
ITIS TSN: 161938
WoRMS AphiaID: 127181
GBIF key: 2350950
Outside the US: ITIS also files it in Canada.

Common questions about Least Cisco

What is the scientific name of Least Cisco?

The scientific name is Coregonus sardinella, in the family Salmonidae. Classification follows ITIS.

Does Least Cisco live in fresh water or salt water?

WoRMS records this species in fresh water, brackish water and the sea.

Where has Least Cisco been recorded in the United States?

GBIF has observations in 1 states, with the most records in Alaska. The map shows observation records, which do not establish the complete natural range.

Closest relatives