Peled

(Coregonus peled), a lake and river fish of the genus Coregonus. The body is high and up to 50 cm long; the weight generally varies from 0.5 to 2 kg. The mouth is terminal and the upper jaw somewhat prominent. The peled is distributed in the rivers of the Arctic Ocean basin, from Mezen’ to Kolyma. Three forms are distinguished: the large lacustrine, the dwarf lacustrine, and the fluvial.

The peled spawns in autumn and early winter. The lacustrine form spawns on sandy shoals, and the fluvial form, in riverbeds on large pebbles. Fecundity ranges from 5,000 to 85,000 small (1.5 mm) eggs. The peled matures in the fourth to fifth year of life. It feeds on pelagic crustaceans. A commercially valuable fish, the peled has been acclimatized in the lakes of the European USSR and in ponds in the Ukraine and Moldavia, where it matures a year earlier than in lakes.