Salvelinus is a genus of salmonid fish often called char or charr; some species are called "trout". Salvelinus is a member of the Salmoninae subfamily of the Salmonidae family. Charr may be identified by light cream pink or red spots over a darker body. Scales tend to be small, with 115-200 along the lateral line. Pectoral, pelvic, anal, and lower aspect of caudal fin are trimmed in snow white or cream leading edges.

Many members of this genus are popular sports fish, and a few, such as the lake trout (S. namaycush), are the object of commercial fisheries and aquaculture. Occasionally such fish escape and become invasive species.

Species

As with other salmonid genera, the delimitation of species in Salvelinus is controversial. FishBase currently (in 2012) indicates 51 recognized species in this genus:^[2]

• †Salvelinus agassizi (Garman, 1885) (Silver trout)
• Salvelinus albus Glubokovksy, 1977 (White char)
• Salvelinus alpinus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Arctic char, "Dolly Varden" (historical use))
  • Salvelinus alpinus alpinus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Arctic char)
  • Salvelinus alpinus erythrinus (Georgi, 1775) (Davatchan)
• Salvelinus anaktuvukensis Morrow, 1973 (Angayukaksurak char)
• Salvelinus andriashevi L. S. Berg, 1948 (Chukot char)
• Salvelinus boganidae L. S. Berg, 1926 (Boganida char)
• Salvelinus colii (Günther, 1863)
• Salvelinus confluentus (Suckley, 1859) (Bull trout, "Dolly Varden" (historical use))
• Salvelinus curilus (Pallas, 1814)
• Salvelinus czerskii Dryagin, 1932 (Cherskii's char)
• Salvelinus drjagini Logashev, 1940 (Dryanin's char)
• Salvelinus elgyticus Viktorovsky & Glubokovksy, 1981 (Small-mouth char)
• Salvelinus evasus Freyhof & Kottelat, 2005
• Salvelinus faroensis Joensen & Tåning, 1970
• Salvelinus fimbriatus Regan, 1908

Brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis

• Salvelinus fontinalis (Mitchill, 1814) (Brook trout, coaster trout, speckled trout)
• Salvelinus gracillimus Regan, 1909
• Salvelinus grayi (Günther, 1862)
• Salvelinus gritzenkoi Vasil'eva & Stygar, 2000
• Salvelinus inframundus Regan, 1909
• Salvelinus jacuticus Borisov, 1935 (Yakutian char)
• Salvelinus japonicus Ōshima, 1961 (Kirikuchi char) (sometimes included in S. leucomaenis)
• Salvelinus killinensis (Günther, 1866)
• Salvelinus krogiusae Glubokovksy, Frolov, Efremov, Ribnikova & Katugin, 1993
• Salvelinus kronocius Viktorovsky, 1978

Dolly Varden trout, Salvelinus malma

• Salvelinus kuznetzovi Taranetz, 1933
• Salvelinus lepechini (J. F. Gmelin, 1789)
• Salvelinus leucomaenis (Pallas, 1814)
  • Salvelinus leucomaenis imbrius D. S. Jordan & E. A. McGregor, 1925
  • Salvelinus leucomaenis leucomaenis (Pallas, 1814) (Whitespotted char)
  • Salvelinus leucomaenis pluvius (Hilgendorf, 1876)
• Salvelinus levanidovi Chereshnev, Skopets & Gudkov, 1989
• Salvelinus lonsdalii Regan, 1909
• Salvelinus mallochi Regan, 1909
• Salvelinus malma (Walbaum, 1792) (Dolly Varden)
  • Salvelinus malma krascheninnikova Taranetz, 1933 (Southern Dolly Varden)
  • Salvelinus malma malma (Walbaum, 1792) (Dolly Varden)
  • Salvelinus malma miyabei Ōshima, 1938 (Miyabe char)
• Salvelinus maxillaris Regan, 1909
• Salvelinus murta (Sæmundsson, 1909)
• Salvelinus namaycush (Walbaum, 1792) (lake trout, lake char, touladi, togue, grey trout, siscowet, paperbelly, "mackinaw", "lean")
• Salvelinus neiva Taranetz, 1933 (Neiva)
• †Salvelinus neocomensis Freyhof & Kottelat, 2005

Lake trout, Salvelinus namaycush

• Salvelinus obtusus Regan, 1908
• Salvelinus perisii (Günther, 1865)
• †Salvelinus profundus (Schillinger, 1901)
• Salvelinus salvelinoinsularis (Lönnberg, 1900)
• Salvelinus schmidti Viktorovsky, 1978
• Salvelinus struanensis (Maitland, 1881)
• Salvelinus taimyricus Mikhin, 1949
• Salvelinus taranetzi Kaganowsky, 1955 (Dwarf Arctic char, Taranets char)
• Salvelinus thingvallensis (Sæmundsson, 1909)
• Salvelinus tolmachoffi L. S. Berg, 1926 (Esei lake char)
• Salvelinus umbla (Linnaeus, 1758)
• Salvelinus vasiljevae Safronov & Zvezdov, 2005 (Sakhalinian char)
• Salvelinus willoughbii (Günther, 1862)
• Salvelinus youngeri (Friend, 1965) (Golden Char)

Hybrids

• Salvelinus alpinus × Salvelinus fontinalis – Alsatian char
• Salvelinus namaycush × Salvelinus fontinalis – Splake, brookinaw
• Salvelinus fontinalis × Salmo trutta – Tiger trout

References

1. ^ Sepkoski (2002)
2. ^ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2012). Species of Salvelinus in FishBase. February 2012 version.

• Sepkoski, Jack (2002): Osteichthyes. In: A compendium of fossil marine animal genera. Bulletin of American Paleontology 364: 560. HTML fulltext