lake trout

It is the only member of the subgenus Cristovomer, which is more derived than the subgenus Baione (the most basal clade of Salvelinus, containing the brook trout (S. fontinalis) and silver trout (S. agasizii)) but still basal to the other members of Salvelinus.{{Citation|last1=Phillips|first1=RUTH B.|title=CHAPTER 10 - Phylogenetic Relationships among the Salmoninae Based on Nuclear and Mitochondrial DNA Sequences|date=1997-01-01|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780124175402500117|work=Molecular Systematics of Fishes|pages=145–162|editor-last=Kocher|editor-first=Thomas D.|place=San Diego|publisher=Academic Press|language=en|isbn=978-0-12-417540-2|access-date=2021-02-13|last2=Oakley|first2=TODD H.|editor2-last=Stepien|editor2-first=Carol A.}}

From a zoogeographical perspective, lake trout have a relatively narrow distribution. They are native only to the northern parts of North America, principally Canada, but also Alaska and, to some extent, the northeastern United States.{{cite web |url=http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/Salvelinus_namaycush/ |title=Salvelinus namaycush Lake trout |publisher=Animal Diversity Web |access-date=2013-11-23}} Lake trout have been widely introduced into non-native waters in North America{{cite web |url=https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID=942 |title=NAS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Lake Trout |publisher=US Geological Survey |access-date=2013-11-23}} and into many other parts of the world, mainly Europe, but also into South America and certain parts of Asia. Although lake trout were introduced into Yellowstone National Park's Shoshone, Lewis and Heart lakes legally in the 1890s, they were illegally or accidentally introduced into Yellowstone Lake in the 1980s where they are now considered invasive.{{cite journal |last=Munro |first= Andrew R. |author2=Thomas E. McMahon |author3=James R. Ruzycki |date=Spring 2006 |title=Source and Date of Lake Trout Introduction |journal=Yellowstone Science |volume=14 |issue=2 |url=http://www.nps.gov/yell/planyourvisit/upload/YS14(2).pdf }}

File:Lake Trout GLERL.jpg

Lake trout are the largest of the chars; the record weighed almost {{convert|102|lb|kg}} (netted) with a length of {{convert|50|in|cm}}, and {{convert|15|-|40|lb|kg|abbr=off|adj=on}} fish are not uncommon. The average length is {{convert|24|-|36|in|cm|abbr=off}}. The largest caught on a rod and reel according to the IGFA was {{convert|72|lb}}, caught in Great Bear Lake in 1995 with a length of {{convert|59|in|cm}}.{{cite web|url=http://wrec.igfa.org/WRecordsList.aspx?lc=AllTackle&cn=Trout,%20lake |title=International Game Fish Association-Lake Trout |publisher=International Game Fish Association |access-date=2013-11-23}}

Lake trout inhabit cold, oxygen-rich waters. They are pelagic during the period of summer stratification in dimictic lakes, often living at depths of {{convert|20|-|60|m|ft|abbr=on}}.

The lake trout is a slow-growing fish, typical of oligotrophic waters. It is also very late to mature. Populations are extremely susceptible to overfishing. Many native lake trout populations have been severely damaged through the combined effects of hatchery stocking (planting) and over harvest. Another threat to lake trout is acidification, which can have longterm effects on their populations through both direct harm and reduced prey populations (e.g. Mysis relicta).{{Cite journal|last=Ogden|first=Lesley Evans|date=2018-11-01|title=Acid Rain: Researchers Addressing Its Lingering Effects|url=https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/68/11/928/5123903|journal=BioScience|language=en|volume=68|issue=11|pages=928|doi=10.1093/biosci/biy113|issn=0006-3568|doi-access=free}}

There are three subspecies of lake trout. There is the common lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush namaycush), the siscowet lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush siscowet), and the less common rush lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush huronicus). Some lakes do not have pelagic forage fish during the period of summer stratification.{{cite journal |last1=Rochard |first1=Eric |last2=Elie |first2=Pierre |date=1994 |title=La macrofaune aquatique de l'estuaire de la Gironde : contribution au livre blanc de l'Agence de l'eau Adour Garonne |url=https://hal.science/hal-02582433/ |journal=Etat des connaissances sur l'estuaire de la Gironde, Agence de l'Eau Adour Garonne |access-date=24 November 2023}}{{full citation needed|date=March 2025}} In these lakes, lake trout act as planktivores. Lake trout in planktivorous populations are highly abundant, grow very slowly and mature at relatively small sizes. In those lakes that do contain deep-water forage, lake trout become piscivorous. Piscivorous lake trout grow much more quickly, mature at a larger size and are less abundant. Notwithstanding differences in abundance, the density of biomass of lake trout is fairly consistent in similar lakes, regardless of whether the lake trout populations they contain are planktivorous or piscivorous.{{citation needed|date=June 2016}}

Image:Lake trout fish in hands salvelinus namaycush.jpg

In Lake Superior, common lake trout (S. n. namaycush) and siscowet lake trout (S. n. siscowet) live together. Common lake trout tend to stay in shallower waters, while siscowet lake trout stay in deeper water. Common lake trout (also called "lean" lake trout) are slimmer than the relatively fat siscowet. Siscowet numbers have become greatly depressed over the years due to a combination of the extirpation of some of the fish's deep water coregonine prey and to overexploitation. Siscowet tend to grow extremely large and fat and attracted great commercial interest in the last century. Their populations have rebounded since 1970, with one estimate putting the number in Lake Superior at 100 million. Professor of Zoology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison James Kitchell credits effective constraint of commercial fisheries and persistent sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) control for the successful recovery of Lake Superior's lake trout. "Looking at what has happened in the lake and the results of computer simulations, it is clear that lamprey control needs to continue if Lake Superior is to keep its lake trout."{{cite web | url=http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/newsletter/2002/12/siscowet_trout_a_plague_of_riches.html| title=Siscowet Trout: A Plague of Riches| access-date=20 December 2007| last=Moen| first=Sharon|date=December 2002| publisher=Minnesota Sea Grant}}

Lake trout are known to hybridize in nature with the brook trout; such hybrids, known as "splake", are normally sterile but self-sustaining populations exist in some lakes.{{cite book |last=Berst |first=A. H. |author2=Ihssen, P. E. |author3=Spangler, G. R. |author4=Ayles, G. B. |author5=Martin, G. W. |year=1980 |chapter=The splake, a hybrid charr Salvelinus namaycush x S. fontinalis. |editor=Balon, E. K. |title=Charrs, Salmonid Fishes of the Genus Salvelinus |publisher=Dr. W. Junk Publishers |location=The Hague |pages= 841–887 }} Splake are also artificially propagated in hatcheries, and then stocked into lakes in an effort to provide sport-fishing opportunities.{{cite web |url=http://www.maine.gov/ifw/fishing/species/splake.htm |title=Why Splake? |publisher=Maine.gov Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife |access-date=2013-11-23}}

File:Fruits of Sturgeon Bay.jpg in the Sturgeon Bay Post Office.]]

Lake trout were fished commercially in the Great Lakes until lampreys, overharvest and pollution extirpated or severely reduced the stocks. Commercial fisheries still exist in some areas of the Great Lakes and smaller lakes in northern Canada. Commercial fishing by Ottawa (Odawa) and Chippewa (Ojibwe) Indians for Lake Trout in Lake Michigan, Lake Huron and Lake Superior is permitted under various treaties and co-managed and regulated by many tribes and Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC).{{cite web |url=http://www.glifwc.org/Fisheries/GreatLakes/ |title=Lake Superior Treaty Fishery |publisher=Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission |access-date=2013-11-24}}

The specific epithet namaycush derives from namekush, a form of the word used in some inland Southern East Cree communities in referring to this species of fish. Other variations found in East Cree are kûkamâs[h], kûkamâw and kûkamesh.Berkes, Fikret and Marguerite MacKenzie. "Cree Fish Names from Eastern James Bay, Quebec" in Arctic, Vol. 31, No. 4 (December 1978), pp. 489–495 Similar cognate words are found in Ojibwe: namegos = "lake trout"; namegoshens = "rainbow trout", literally meaning "little lake trout".Weshki-ayaad, Lippert and Gambill. [http://www.freelang.net/online/ojibwe.php Freelang Ojibwe Dictionary Online]. Accessed September 21, 2010.

Geneva, New York claims the title "Lake Trout Capital of the World," and holds an annual lake trout fishing derby.[http://www.laketroutderby.org/ Lake trout derby, Geneva, NY] Accessed September 29, 2010.

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• [http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?ID=248&genusname=Salvelinus&speciesname=namaycush Fishbase description of Lake trout]

{{Trouts}}

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Lake trout

Category:Freshwater fish of the United States

Category:Freshwater fish of the Arctic

Category:Lake fish of North America

Category:Fish of the Great Lakes

Lake trout

Category:Taxa named by Johann Julius Walbaum