Blue walleye

Blue walleye
Extinct (1983)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
(invalid taxon)
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Perciformes
Family: Percidae
Subfamily: Luciopercinae
Genus: Sander
Species:
Subspecies:
S. v. glaucus
Trinomial name
Sander vitreus glaucus
(Hubbs, 1926)
Synonyms
  • Stizostedion glaucum Hubbs, 1926
  • Stizostedion vitreum glaucum Trautman, 1981
  • Sander glaucus Hubbs, 1926

The blue walleye (Sander vitreus var. glaucus), also called the blue pike, was a unique color morph (formerly considered a subspecies) of walleye which was endemic to the Great Lakes of North America. Morphometric studies led biologists to classify the blue walleye as a separate species in 1926, although it was later downgraded to a subspecies. Listed as an endangered species by the United States in 1967, it was declared extinct in 1983.

Genetic analyses conducted in the 21st century show that the blue walleye was not genetically different from the yellow walleye (Sander vitreus), rendering the taxon invalid.