Facts about Trout
Lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush), like brook trout, actually belong to the char genus.
Lake trout can live many decades, and can grow to more than 30 kilograms (66 pounds).
Trout are usually found in cool (50-60°F, 10-15°C), clear streams and lakes, although many of the species have anadromous strains as well.
Trout that live in different environments can have dramatically different colorations and patterns.
Members of the genus Salmo are commonly known as "Atlantic trouts," although this genus also includes a fish known as the Atlantic salmon.
Sometimes the term "trout" is used to refer more generally to any member of the Salmoniformes order, which includes only the one family Salmonidae (ITIS 2004; Nelson 2006).
The rainbow trout were a steelhead strain, generally accepted as coming from Sonoma Creek.
All fish called trout are members of the subfamily Salmoninae, and among the fish in the genera Salvelinus (chars), Salmo (Atlantic trouts), and Oncorhynchus (Pacific trouts and Pacific salmon).
The Atlantic salmons and trouts of genus Salmo give the family and order their names.
The brook trout, the aurora trout, and the (extinct) silver trout all have physical characteristics and colorations that distinguish them, yet genetic analysis shows that they are one species, Salvelinus fontinalis.
Trout include freshwater and anadromous members, which are native to the Northern Hemisphere, but are now widely distributed.
Today trout are plentiful in North America, but at one point their populations were at risk.
Trout are valued highly both for commercial fisheries and for sport.
Trout is the common name for several species of freshwater and anadromous fish in the family Salmonidae, whose members also include salmon, whitefish, char, and their relatives.
The introduced species included brown trout from England and rainbow trout from California.
Trout are distributed naturally throughout North America, northern Asia, and Europe.
Trout are both caught wild and reared in aquaculture for food purposes.
Lake trout inhabit many of the larger lakes in North America, and live much longer than rainbow trout, which have an average maximum lifespan of seven years.
Several species of trout were introduced to Australia and New Zealand by amateur fishing enthusiasts in the nineteenth century, effectively displacing and endangering several upland native fish species.
The trout found in the eastern United States are a good example of this.
The rainbow trout of New Zealand still show the steelhead tendency to run up rivers in winter to spawn (Landergren 1999).