Info
Specimens escape from aqua farms again and again, which, like the brook trout, feel at home in foreign waters and cause difficulties for the native fauna in many ways.
The brook trout prefers larger prey, but it feeds on a wide range of organisms, including worms, leeches, beetles, crustaceans, mollusks, fish, small amphibians: frogs and salamanders, small mammals mice), insects: Chironomids, caddisflies, black flies, mayflies, stoneflies, and dragonflies, and sometimes even plant material.
The brook trout is now classified as an "invasive species" and a "potential pest" to native fauna.
Due to its anadromous migratory property, the salmonid is constantly entering new areas, e.g. Zimbabwe, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia, and Switzerland.
Salvelinus fontinalis is highly prized by fly fishers and other sport fishermen, and is consequently frequently stocked, or restocked.
The char rivals our native brown trout for food and is ready to spawn at about the same time, so there is often a loss of laid brown trout eggs.
Crosses are known to occur between brook trout and Arctic char, but these are sterile and cannot reproduce further.
Synonyms:
Baione fontinalis (Mitchill, 1814)
Salmo canadensis Griffith & Smith, 1834
Salmo fontinalis Mitchill, 1814
Salmo hudsonicus Suckley, 1861
Salvelinus fontinalis timagamiensis Henn & Rinckenbach, 1925
Salvelinus timagamiensis Henn & Rinckenbach, 1925