Salvelinus (Nilsson) Richardson, 1836
Mouth large, lower jaw reaching well beyond hind margin of eye, upper jaw to or beyond same point; teeth well developed on jaws, tongue, palatines and on head of vomer (but shaft toothless and with a boat-shaped depression, thus no teeth in centre of palate). Anal fin with 7-10 branched finrays. Scales minute, 190-250 in lateral line. Body with light spots (red, orange, pink or yellow) on a dark background.
Habitat: anadromous forms spend a considerable proportion of their span at sea; non-migratory populations remain in freshwater (lakes and rivers). Food: fishes (small gadids and cottids, capelin, sand-eels, smelt) and crustaceans (34 amphipod and mysid species recorded); freshwater populations on planktonic crustaceans, amphipods, molluscs, insects, also fishes. Reproduction: ascending rivers between July and September according to locality, spawning in September to November, usually in rivers at 4-11 years old; adults remain in rivers until winter ice breaks, returning to sea with the first floods; juveniles migrate to sea at 2-3 years, rarely at 4-5 years.
Distribution: North Atlantic southward to southern Norway, also Icelanc and southern Greenland, not far from river mouths; non-migratory and land-locked relict populations well to south of this (British Isles, central France). Elsewhere, circumpolar.
Species numerous; in Clofnam area 1.
Species of this genus in the program:
Salvelinus alpinus