Scottish Coarse Fish Species - Powan

Latin Name - Coregonus clupeoides clupeoides

The Powan is a Scottish variety of the Freshwater Houting - a 'whitefish' with an adipose fin.  It is found in Loch Lomond,  Loch Eck and Carron Valley Reservoir though this list is not definitive.  It grows to 18 in (46 cm) and a weight of 2 lb (907 gm).

The Powan is a protected species and though it is rarely caught by anglers it should not be retained in a keepnet.

Scottish Record -

Powan was deleted from the record list in October 1991, being a protected species.

In Loch Lomond the Powan range over the whole lake. They spawn in early January, although some may spawn in December and the season may extend to March. Spawning takes place on certain gravelly shallows, usually those off headlands and on offshore banks and reefs. The water temperature at the time of spawning is close to 6 °C (43 °F). Hatching takes place in sixty to seventy days, the fry being about 12 mm in length at hatching. Little is known of their early life, but at two years old they are more than 6 in (15 cm) long; fish between three and four years old vary in length from 10 to 13½ in (26-34 cm). They may live up to ten years.

IDENTIFICATION Thirty-five to thirty-nine fairly long and well-developed gill rakers. The head is conical, the snout bluntly rounded with the lower jaw included within the upper, i.e. the mouth is ventral. The maxillary bone reaches to the front of the eye or only just past it.  The dorsal, pectoral and pelvic fins are large and conspicuous when compared with other British species.  The back is bluish or dark green, often very dark. The dorsal, anal and tail fins are dark; the tips (sometimes to half their lengths) of the pectoral and pelvic fins are dusky.