A very big whitefish

Fish

Unusual Size / Abundance

Grayling, Alaska, United States

Nearby

No one in Grayling has seen this big a whitefish before. ADFG lists state record for broad whitefish as 11 lbs. This one weighed in at 15 lbs!

Observation by Bernice Nicholi:

No one has seen this big a whitefish before, and I dont know what kind of fish it is. I froze it whole to see if we can get more information on it. I did email fish and game. It weighed 15 lbs, was 31 3/4 inches long and 10.5 inches wide. It was caught in Grayling Alaska.

LEO Editor Comment:

Thanks for saving the fish Bernice. We will see if someone can help with the identification. We have reached out to our friends at the Fish Pathology Lab at ADFG and also the the University of Alaska, Museum of the North for their comment. LEO Network members please feel free to chime in on identifications, recipes etc. Mike Brubaker

Follow Up: According to ADFG: "Mature broad whitefish average from two to five kilograms (~4.5 to 11 pounds) In North Slope waters, mature fish are largest in the Colville and Chipp river areas and smallest on the eastern edge of their Alaska distribution. Generally, mature fish on the slope run 500 to 600 mm (~ 9.5 to 23.5 inches)."

Comment by Jayde Ferguson:

That is a whitefish from Alaska. Best guess would be a broad whitefish. I double checked the ID with Shane Hertzog (cc’d) and he agreed.

Follow up on Alaska record for whitefish: Looks like it’s 9 pounds for “whitefish”: https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=FishingSportFishAK.TrophyFishProgram Broad whitefish can get up to 11 lbs: https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=broadwhitefish.main

Follow up on details for Alaska fish records (6-27-22): I bumped into the Trophy Coordinator, Ryan Ragan, this morning and he said that the fish can be frozen. However, it needs to be caught on sport fish gear since it’s a sport fish program (i.e., not in a fishwheel, gillnet, etc.). To get it weighed and official, she can just take it to a Fish and Game office and they should be able to take it from there. If one isn’t in Grayling or nearby, then just contact Ryan and he can get the details worked out. His email is ryan.ragan@alaska.gov.

Comment by Aren Gunderson of University of Alaska Museum:

Our fish collection curator Andres Lopez says this: "Looks like a broad whitefish to me (Coregonus nasus) - they get pretty big. Upper jaw bones are pretty helpful for species diagnosis -- see photos below (4):