Tag Archives: Switzerland

Coregonus hiemalis Jurine

Gravenche (Coregonus hiemalis)  

The Graveche, also known as Kilch, Kleine Fera or Lake Geneva Whitefish was endemic to Lake Geneva, where it was formerly one of the most commonly caught species.  

The species reached lengths of 25 to 32 cm, it lived mainly among or near the lake’s bottom where it fed on tiny to tiniest organisms.  

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Despite being one of the most common species of the lake, the species was already disappearing during the 19th century, so the catching size for this species in Switzerland was officially set to above 20 cm in 1887.  

This effort, however, came too late, the Graveche disappeared completely and is now globally extinct.  

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Depiction from: ‘H. G. Seeley: The fresh-water fishes of Europe; a history of their genera, species, structure, habits, and distribution. London, Cassell 1886’  

(not in copyright)

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edited: 21.03.2018

Saxifraga oppositifolia ssp. amphibia (Sünd.) Braun-Blanq.

Lake Constance Saxifrage (Saxifraga oppositifolia ssp. amphibia)

The Purple Saxifrage (Saxifraga oppositifolia L.) is split into about eight to ten subspecies which are found in arctic, sub-arctic and mountainous regions of North America, Asia and Europe, one, the one discussed here, was restricted to the shores of Lake Constance located between Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

The plants grew in the beach-meadows, together with at least two other, local endemic plant species; about 30 populations were known, the last of the Bavarian populations disappeared at around 1959 while others survived until at least to 1978; however, this form is now completely extinct.

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Photo: Robert Flogaus-Faust

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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edited: 02.08.2022