Everything about The Brook Trout totally explained
The
brook trout,
Salvelinus fontinalis, (sometimes called the
eastern brook trout) is a
species of
fish in the
Salvelinus/char family of
order Salmoniformes. In many parts of its range, it's known as the
speckled trout. A
potamodromous population in
Lake Superior are known as
coaster trout or, simply, as
coasters. Though commonly called a
trout, the brook trout is actually a
char, along with
lake trout,
bull trout,
Dolly Varden and the
Arctic char.
Habits and range
The brook trout is native to small streams, creeks, lakes, and spring ponds. Some brook trout are
anadromous. It is native to a wide area of eastern
North America but increasingly confined to higher elevations southward in the
Appalachian Mountains to northern
Georgia,
Canada from the
Hudson Bay basin east, the
Great Lakes–
Saint Lawrence system, and the upper
Mississippi River drainage as far west as eastern
Iowa.
pH range: 4.8+
Unusual pH recordings: 3.5, 9.8]]
The brook trout is a popular game fish with
anglers, particularly
fly fishermen. Today, many anglers practice
catch-and-release tactics to preserve remaining brook trout populations, and organizations such as
Trout Unlimited have been in the forefront of efforts to institute air and water quality standards sufficient to protect the brook trout. Revenues derived from the sale of fishing licenses have been used to restore many sections of creeks and streams to brook trout habitat. Brook trout are also commercially raised in large numbers for food production, being sold for human consumption in both fresh and smoked forms. Because of its dependence on pure water and a variety of aquatic and insect life forms, the brook trout is also used for scientific experimentation in assessing the effects of pollution.
Partially as a result of its popularity as a
game fish, the brook trout has been
introduced in some areas to which it wasn't originally native, and has become established widely throughout the world. In some parts of the world, the brook trout has had a harmful effect on native species, and is a potential pest.
Hybrids
Brook trout can sometimes
hybridise with other species and both natural and artificial hybrids are known.
One such intergeneric hybrid, between the brook trout and the
brown trout (genus
Salmo) is the
tiger trout. Tiger trout occur very rarely naturally but are sometimes artificially
propagated. Such crosses are almost always reproductively
sterile.
A less frequent natural hybrid is the
splake, a hybrid between the brook trout and lake trout. Although uncommon in nature, some jurisdictions artificially propagate splake in substantial numbers for planting into brook trout or lake trout habitats. An example would be in Ontario, where both
F1 splake and a fish known as the lake trout backcross have been planted for several years. The backcross is the result of an F1 splake male being crossed with a female lake trout (
for example, 75% lake tout and 25% brook trout).
Although splake were first described in 1880, Ontario began experimenting with the hybrids in the 1960s in an effort to replace collapsed lake trout stocks in the
Great Lakes. Due to mediocre results, the experiment never really progressed beyond
Georgian Bay. The theory was that splake would grow more quickly and mature sooner than lake trout with the hope that they'd be able to reproduce before being attacked by the
invasive sea lamprey. Unfortunately, although splake are relatively unusual among hybrids in that they're fertile, fertility in nature is behaviourally problematic — very few natural progeny are produced by introduced splake populations.
After some experimentation in the late 1970s, stocking in the Great Lakes and, especially, in Georgian Bay, was converted entirely to the so-called lake trout backcross in the early 1980s. Although the backcross program did succeed in creating some localised angling opportunities, it never achieved any degree of success in terms of natural reproduction — the backcross was only marginally better at reproducing than was the F1 splake. The F1 splake has proved to be a success, however, in providing angling opportunities in smaller lakes and most of the planting of splake in Ontario now goes to those situations. There are two general cases. In the first case, former brook trout waters which have become infested with spiny-rayed fish to the point where they no longer produce brook trout are stocked with splake. The splake grow more quickly than do wild-strain brook trout and become
piscivorous at a younger age and, hence, are more tolerant of competitors than are brook trout. In the second case, relatively small lake trout lakes that experienced poor
recruitment due to insufficient deep-water juvenile lake trout habitat will support fairly good splake fisheries since splake are less dependent on extreme deep water than are the lake trout and they grow more quickly, providing a better return to anglers. In both cases, due to the behavioural sterility of splake, all such fisheries are entirely dependent on artificial propagation.
Human-caused habitat destruction
Brook-trout populations depend on cold, clear, well-oxygenated water of high purity. As early as the late
19th century, native brook trout in North America became
extirpated from many watercourses as land development, forest clear-cutting, and industrialization took hold. Streams and creeks that were polluted, dammed, or silted up often became too warm to hold native brook trout, and were colonized by transplanted
smallmouth bass and
perch or other introduced salmonids such as
brown and
rainbow trout. The brown trout, a species not native to North America, has replaced the brook trout in much of the brook trout's native water. Brook trout populations, if already stressed by overharvest or by temperature, are very susceptible to damage by the introduction of exogenous species. Many
lacustrine populations of brook trout have been extirpated by the introduction of other species, particularly
percids but sometimes other
spiny-rayed fishes.
In addition to chemical pollution and algae growth caused by runoff containing chemicals and fertilizers, air pollution has also been a significant factor in the disappearance of brook trout from their native habitats. In the United States, acid rain caused by air pollution has resulted in
pH levels too low to sustain brook trout in all but the highest headwaters of some Appalachian streams and creeks.. Brook trout populations across large parts of eastern Canada have been similarly challenged; a subspecies known as the
aurora trout was extirpated from the wild by the effects of acid rain.
Today, in many parts of the range, efforts are underway to restore brook trout to those waters that once held native populations, stocking other trout species only in habitats that can no longer be recovered sufficiently to sustain brook trout populations.
Trivia
- The specific epithet fontinalis derives from the Latin fontīnālis (of or from a spring or fountain).
State fish
The brook trout is the state fish of New Hampshire,Michigan, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.Further Information
Get more info on 'Brook Trout'.
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