New Complexities in Zoogeography and Taxonomy of the Pygmy Whitefish (Prosopium coulteri)

Abstract

Pygmy whitefish (Prosopium coulteri) are recorded for the first time from the Peel–Mackenzie river drainage (Elliott Lake, Yukon Territory) and from the Hudson Bay drainage (Waterton Lakes, Alberta, in the South Saskatchewan–Nelson river system). The morphology of specimens from both localities contradicts the previously known pattern of a southeastern "low-rakered" and a northwestern "high-rakered" form (with the two forms occurring sympatrically in some lakes of the Bristol Bay area). Specimens from Elliott Lake, the most northerly known locality, resemble the southeastern form and those from Waterton Lakes the northwestern form. Both Waterton and Elliott lakes lie close to unglaciated refugia, suggesting that the species may have survived Wisconsin glaciation and diverged in several different watersheds.