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Houting

Houting

Once common across the estuaries and rivers of northwestern Europe, the houting is an anadromous whitefish that spends adult life in the brackish shallows of the North Sea and Wadden Sea before pushing into rivers each winter to spawn.

Houting are closely related to European whitefish but distinct enough — in their pointed snout, saltwater tolerance, and migratory ecology — to warrant separate management.

The species is now critically rare, surviving mainly through active reintroduction efforts in Wadden Sea tributaries.

Scientific Name: Coregonus oxyrinchus

Also known as North Sea Houting, Snæbel

Physical Characteristics:
  • The long, distinctly pointed snout with an underslung mouth is the clearest field mark — no other European whitefish has quite this profile.
  • Silvery, streamlined body typical of the Coregonus family, built for open-water and estuarine life rather than fast-river holding.
  • Reaches 50–60 cm and up to 2 kg; lifespan up to 10 years.

What to know

Habitat Distribution

  • Unique among European Coregonus for tolerating full saltwater long-term — adults range through the North Sea and Wadden Sea coastal shallows between spawning runs.
  • Spawning migrations run up rivers in winter; juveniles drop back to sea within weeks of hatching, making intact estuarine connections essential to the life cycle.
  • Some landlocked populations complete their entire life cycle in freshwater, demonstrating real flexibility in how this species can live.
  • Tied to the cool, productive waters of northwestern Europe, operating in temperatures of roughly 4–20°C.

Specific Spots

  • During spawning runs, adults concentrate in the lower and middle river reaches — gravel-bottomed stretches with moderate current where eggs can be deposited and kept oxygenated by flow.
  • In coastal and estuarine habitat, houting swim just above the bottom, tracking zooplankton concentrations and invertebrate-rich soft substrate rather than holding tight to hard structure.

See it in the app

Most maps show you water.
onWater shows you Houting.

  1. 01 · Species map filter

    Map every Houting water

    Pick Houting and the map zeroes in on the waters they call home. No more guessing which lake holds them.

  2. 02 · Waterbody species

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  3. 03 · Angler Intelligence

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    Tactics, gear and timing from onWater's AI fishing guide, tuned to the species and the water you're on.

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