The lake whitefish is sometimes referred to as a "humpback" fish due to the small size of the head in relation to the length of the body.

Smoked, refrigerated, vacuum-packed lake whitefish fillets are available in North American grocery stores.

[5] To the distinction from cisco, the lake whitefish has a snout which overhangs the short lower jaw, so that the mouth opens in a slightly inferior position.

Both the cisco and lake whitefish are discernible from the mooneye due to the small posterior dorsal adipose fin.

[6] In early life stages however, the cisco and lake whitefish are indistinguishable based on morphological characters alone with genetic analyses being necessary to reliably identify species.

The lake whitefish is distributed from Alaska and western Canada to the Atlantic coastal drainage of Maine and in New Brunswick north to Labrador.

In the autumn, mature lake whitefish enter the shallows to lay their eggs on shoals of rubble and gravel.

The longest single movement of a tagged whitefish ever recorded was 388 km (241 mi), from Fort McMurray to the north shore of Lake Athabasca in Alberta, Canada.

In winter months, catching whitefish through the ice is very popular, particularly in northern Wisconsin, with many fishing guides specializing in this species.

Since the end of the last glaciation (about 12,000 years ago), whitefish have re-colonized many North American lakes, from different directions, from refugia that represent genetically diverged stocks or races.

The fact that they are young species makes them prime candidate to study the evolutionary forces driving their ecological divergence and reproductive isolation.