Details
Salvelinus alpinus
A northern salmonid with both landlocked and sea-run forms, strongly adapted to cold Arctic and subarctic waters.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
Occurs in lakes, rivers, and coasts across northern North America, Greenland, northern Europe, and Siberia, favoring cold oxygen-rich water.
Color ranges from silvery to dark, with pale spots along the sides. Some spawning fish develop orange or red bellies.
It may school or forage alone in lakes. Sea-run fish move seasonally between coastal waters and freshwater.
It eats aquatic insects, crustaceans, small fish, and plankton. Lake populations can split into different feeding forms.
Spawning occurs over gravel in autumn, and eggs overwinter before hatching. Growth and maturity are slow in cold waters.
Arctic char is among the northernmost freshwater fishes, and warming waters threaten some local populations.
