Researchers from the University of Amsterdam and the Natural History Museum London have debunked the belief that the houting fish, once declared extinct, is thriving in the North Sea estuaries. Contrary to previous declarations, the houting has been found to be alive and well, as evidenced by DNA comparisons with the European whitefish.
The research team conducted DNA analysis on houting specimens dating back over 250 years, carefully preserved in the museum. Surprisingly, they discovered minimal genetic differences between the houting and the European whitefish, a species that is still common today. This unexpected finding challenges the official status of houting as extinct.
In a recent study published in BMC Ecology and Evolution, the scientists isolated mitochondrial DNA from historic houting specimens, including a dried sample from 1754 used by Linnaeus for the species description. The subsequent DNA analysis resulted in a phylogenetic tree, grouping all examined houting specimens with the European whitefish.
Lead author Rob Kroes of the University of Amsterdam explained, “The European whitefish is fairly widespread in Western and Northern Europe, both in freshwater rivers and lakes, estuaries, and the sea. Because we found no species difference between houting of the past and today’s European whitefish, we do not consider the houting to be extinct.”
The confusion surrounding the houting’s extinction declaration in 2008 is attributed to variations in morphological traits. Previous assumptions were based on features such as snout length and gill raker count, which are now deemed inadequate for distinguishing the two species. DNA analysis has provided unequivocal evidence that houting is not a separate species.
While the researchers propose a change in the official Latin species name, further DNA analysis of the aged specimens may pose challenges due to the degraded state of the DNA. Despite this, the implications of this rediscovery are significant, particularly for conservation efforts. As Kroes notes, “The protected status of various coregonids is a mess. According to the IUCN, North Sea houting is extinct; at the same time, there are various European nature laws that state that both houting and European whitefish must be protected. So, we are actually protecting an extinct species that is just swimming around at the moment.”
This rediscovery prompts a re-evaluation of conservation policies and underscores the complexities of species classification, emphasizing the need for ongoing scientific scrutiny.
