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brown trout


n.

A European freshwater game fish (Salmo trutta) that is dark olive to purple-black above and yellow-brown with reddish spots on the sides. It is naturalized in North America.


 
 
Animal Encyclopedia: Brown trout

Salmo trutta

FAMILY

Salmonidae

TAXONOMY

Salmo trutta Linnaeus, 1758, "Europe."

OTHER COMMON NAMES

English: German brown trout, herling, sea trout; French: Truite brune de mer; German: Lassföhren; Spanish: Trucha comĂșn.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

Length 55.1 in (140 cm); weight 110.4 lb (50 kg). Coloration varies only according to the breeding season. They are dorsally black, usually orange on sides, surrounded by pale halos. The adipose fin has always a red margin. Troutlike body. The upper jaw reaches below the center of the eye in juveniles and well beyond the eye in larger individuals.

DISTRIBUTION

Originally from Eurasia. Now introduced all over the world, including Europe, Latin America, Australia, and New Zealand. Widely transplanted because it thrives in warmer waters than most other species of trouts. As with other species of salmonids, the introductions have had a negative impact on the local fauna.

HABITAT

Prefers cold, well-oxygenated upland waters. Favorite habitat is large streams in mountain areas with submerged rocks, undercut banks, and overhanging vegetation. Preferences in terms of high temperature tend to be looser than that of the rainbow trout.

BEHAVIOR

Mainly diurnal. Very territorial, aggressively defends feeding areas from conspecifics (members of the same species) and other trout species.

FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET

Diverse diet including small aquatic and terrestrial insects, mollusks, crustaceans, and small fishes. When eating very small prey, utilizes gill rakers on the surface of the gill arches. The plasticity in feeding preferences is accompanied by morphological plasticity in the feeding apparatus. For example, the mouth is fairly large and has nonspecialized teeth on the jaws and on several bones within the mouth, which serve for eating any almost creature. Very voracious, adults prey on items up to one-fourth their own length. The well-defined muscular stomach opens by a valve into the intestine. The intestine has a series of fingerlike appendages (pyloric ceca) that open off the intestine, immediately posterior to the stomach. These appendages secrete enzymes to facilitate food digestion. This character is typical of many very predacious species, and the more predacious they are, the higher the number of pyloric ceca. Ocean-going populations are vulnerable to larger fishes, pinnipeds, and toothed whales. Freshwater populations are preyed upon by larger fishes, otters, bears, and fish-eating birds.

REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY

Life history is similar to that of the Atlantic salmon, reproducing in rivers, producing about 10,000 eggs, and taking between three and four years for maturation.

CONSERVATION STATUS

Not listed by the IUCN.

SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS

Much sought after as a food item, particularly in Europe. Ocean-going individuals are called sea trout, and are larger than freshwater forms. They provide good sport, as do those that enter large lakes.

 

Brown trout (Salmo trutta)
(click to enlarge)
Brown trout (Salmo trutta) (credit: Treat Davidson — The National Audubon Society Collection/Photo Researchers)
Prized and wary European game fish (Salmo trutta, family Salmonidae) that is favoured for food. The species includes several varieties (e.g., the Loch Leven trout of Britain). The brown trout is recognized by the light-ringed black spots on its brown body. It has been transplanted to many areas of the world because it can thrive in warmer waters than most other trout. It grows to about 8 lbs (3.6 kg). Oceangoing individuals, called sea trout, are larger than freshwater forms and provide good sport, as do those that enter large lakes.

For more information on brown trout, visit Britannica.com.

 
WordNet: brown trout
Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: speckled trout of European rivers; introduced in North America
  Synonyms: salmon trout, Salmo trutta


 
Wikipedia: brown trout
Brown trout
Bachforelle_Zeichnung.jpg
Conservation status
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Salmoniformes
Family: Salmonidae
Genus: Salmo
Species: S. trutta
Binomial name
Salmo trutta
Linnaeus, 1758
Morphs

Salmo trutta morpha trutta
Salmo trutta morpha fario
Salmo trutta morpha lacustris

The brown trout (Salmo trutta morpha fario and S. trutta morpha lacustris) and the sea trout (S. trutta morpha trutta) are fish of the same species.

They are distinguished chiefly by the fact that the brown trout is largely a freshwater fish, while the sea trout shows anadromous reproduction, migrating to the oceans for much of its life and returning to freshwater only to spawn.

The lacustrine morph of brown trout is most usually potamodromous, migrating from lakes into rivers or streams to spawn, although there is some evidence of stocks that spawn on wind-swept shorelines of lakes. S. trutta morpha fario form stream-resident populations, typically in alpine streams but sometimes in larger rivers. There is evidence that anadromous and non-anadromous morphs coexisting in the same river can be genetically identical [1]. In common usage, the name "brown trout" is often applied indiscriminately to the various morphs.

The brown trout is normally considered to be native to Europe and Asia but the natural distribution of the migratory forms may be, in fact, circumpolar. There are also landlocked populations far from the oceans, for example in Greece and Estonia. The fish is not considered to be endangered although, in some cases, individual stocks are under various degrees of stress mainly through habitat degradation, overharvest and artificial propagation leading to introgression. S. trutta morpha fario prefers cold (though in comparison with other trout, this species has a somewhat higher temperature preference of about 60-65 F, or 15.5-18.3 C), well-oxygenated upland waters, especially large streams in mountainous areas. Cover is important to trout, and they are more likely to be found where there are submerged rocks, undercut banks, and overhanging vegetation.

Brown trout
Enlarge
Brown trout

The brown trout is a medium sized fish, growing to 20 kg or more in some localities although in many smaller rivers a mature weight of 1 kg (2 lb) or less is common. The current International Game Fish Association (IGFA) world "all tackle" record brown trout, 18.25 kg (40 pounds, 4 ounces), was caught in May of 1992 from the Little Red River, Arkansas by Howard "Rip" Collins. (Story with images)

Brown trout may live for several years although, as with the Atlantic salmon, there is a high proportion of death of males after spawning and probably fewer than 20% of female kelts recover from spawning. The migratory forms grow to significantly larger sizes and may live longer. Brown trout are active both by day and by night and are opportunistic feeders. While in fresh water, the diet will frequently include invertebrates from the streambed, small fish, frogs, and insects flying near the water's surface. The high dietary reliance upon insect larvae, pupae, nymphs and adults is what allows trout to be a favoured target for fly fishing. Sea trout are especially fished for at night using wet flies.

The spawning behaviour of brown trout is similar to that of the closely related Atlantic salmon. A typical female produces about 2000 eggs per kilogram (900 eggs per pound) of body weight at spawning. Brown trout rarely form hybrids, almost invariably infertile, with other species. One such example is the tiger trout, a hybrid with the brook trout.

Trout is a favourite food fish, and is used both fresh and smoked; there are many recipes for it, and it may be eaten fried, grilled, baked or microwaved.

The specific epithet trutta derives from the Latin trutta, meaning, literally, "trout".

Stocking, farming and non-native brown trout

Fishes in the Faroe Islands:Brown trout (Salmo trutta fario)Faroese stamp issued: 7 Feb 1994Artist: Astrid Andreasen
Enlarge
Fishes in the Faroe Islands:
Brown trout (Salmo trutta fario)
Faroese stamp issued: 7 Feb 1994
Artist: Astrid Andreasen

The species has been widely introduced for purposes of sport into North America, South America, Australia and New Zealand. Brown trout have had serious negative impacts on upland native fish species in some of the countries where they have been introduced, particularly Australia. Because of the trout's importance as a food and game fish, it has been artificially propagated and stocked in many places in its range, and fully natural populations (uncontaminated by allopatric genomes) probably exist only in isolated places, for example in Corsica or in high alpine valleys on the European mainland.

Farming of brown trout has included the production of infertile triploid fish by increasing the water temperature just after fertilisation of eggs, or more reliably by a process known as pressure shocking. Triploids are favoured by anglers because they grow faster and larger than diploid trout. Proponents of the stocking of triploids argue that, because they are infertile, they can be introduced into an environment that contains wild brown trout without the negative effects of cross-breeding. However, it is possible that stocking triploids may damage wild stocks in other ways. Triploids certainly compete with diploid fish for food, space and other resources. They could also be more aggressive than diploid fish and they may disturb spawning behaviour.

Sea trout populations in recent years have seriously declined due to infestation by sea lice from salmon farms. [1]

References

  1. ^ Clover, Charles. 2004. The End of the Line: How overfishing is changing the world and what we eat. Ebury Press, London. ISBN 0-09-189780-7

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Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Animal Encyclopedia. Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Copyright © 2005 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Brown trout" Read more

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