While there is no doubt that Coregonus subpopulations from eastern and southern parts of the North Sea basin were largely extirpated during the 20^th century, this species' taxonomy has been a topic of disagreement among researchers since the mid-2000s.

It has traditionally been considered to be distributed throughout the region, and separated from congeners based on its elongated snout and anadromous life history (Hansen et al. 2008). This concept of the taxon continues to be referred to as the "North Sea Houting" in published literature, with a single extant indigenous subpopulation understood to inhabit the Vidå River in Denmark.

However, comparative morphological evidence suggests that it is an extinct potamodromous species formerly restricted to the southern North Sea basin. Under this concept, anadromous subpopulations from northern Germany and Denmark together correspond to the congeneric Maraena Whitefish (Coregonus maraena), which also occurs in the Baltic Sea basin (Freyhof and Schöter 2005).

Subsequent molecular analyses have concluded that the Vidå River subpopulation is genetically distinct from those located further north, but failed to rule out that extinct subpopulations from the southern North Sea represented a distinct taxon (Hansen et al. 2008, Jacobsen et al. 2012). Moreover, the Vidå River subpopulation does not appear to be conspecific with these former subpopulations (Mehner et al. 2018).

The IUCN Red List currently follows the nomenclature provided by Fricke et al. (2024).

Global and European regional assessment: Extinct (EX)
EU 27 regional assessment: Extinct (EX)

The Houting has not been observed in the wild since the early 20^th century.

No ex situ populations exist, therefore this species is assessed as Extinct.

This species was native to the Scheldt, Meuse and Rhine river drainages in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, while there also exist a handful of records from northern France and southeastern England.

In the Rhine it was probably restricted to the lower and middle reaches, with an upstream limit close to the city of Cologne, Germany.

This species' population collapsed during the early 20^th century, with the last report from the lower Rhine River dating to 1940.

There is no evidence that this species entered marine habitats, and it was probably restricted to estuaries and major river channels.

Its diet is understood to have comprised zooplankton and benthic invertebrates.

The annual reproductive period extended from October to December, when spawning occurred in freshwater habitats before juveniles migrated to brackish nursery zones associated with estuaries.

This species' extinction is believed to have been driven by anthropogenic pollution, overfishing and habitat loss, with barriers and other modifications related to river regulation preventing its upstream migration to spawning sites.

This species was formerly harvested on a commercial basis, but few details are available.

This species is included in Appendix III of the Bern Convention (as Coregonus spp.) and Annexes II and IV of the European Union Habitats Directive (misspelled as Coregonus oxyrhynchus).

A Coregonus subpopulation inhabiting the Vidå River in Denmark has been used as a source for efforts, including a €13.4 million European Union co-funded LIFE project, to reintroduce the Houting within its native range. However, these individuals represent a non-native taxon according to the species concepts applied in this Red List assessment (see 'Taxonomic Notes').