Description
Lives in cool, well-oxygenated streams and rivers.
How to identify it
Black and red spots with a pale halo, adipose fin, upper jaw extending past the eye.
Appearance
Slender body, long head and wide mouth. The colouring varies greatly from one water to another: in typical specimens the background is golden or coppery brown, fading to a cream belly, but there are almost silvery forms with few spots, which are easily confused with the rainbow trout. A good check is the tail: square or only slightly concave, without a clear fork and almost free of spots. In young fish the adipose fin often has a red edge and the flanks carry dark vertical blotches that fade as the fish grows.
Habitat and habits
It prefers cold, clear, oxygen-rich water: mountain streams, spring-fed brooks, foothill rivers and, in the lake form, deep, stratified lakes. In running water each fish defends a sheltered lie, behind a boulder, under an undercut bank, among roots or at the edge of a pool, from which it intercepts the food carried by the current. It is active by day as well as by night. In autumn it moves up to the upper stretches to spawn on beds of fine gravel.
Related species and forms
Lake trout (Salmo trutta lacustris)
Salmo trutta lacustris
Large-bodied form of the brown trout that lives in large lakes and ascends tributaries to spawn.
There's more in the app
This species' bite index, recommended baits and methods, and the rules of the day for every water. Offline too.
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