Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis 2900px🐟

Photo: and (C)2007 Derek Ramsey (Ram-Man) · CC BY-SA 2.5

SpeciesSalmoniformesSalmonidae
Fish

🐟Brook trout

Salvelinus fontinalis (Mitchill, 1814)

The brook trout is a species of freshwater fish in the char genus Salvelinus of the salmon family Salmonidae native to Eastern North America in the United States and Canada. Two ecological forms of brook trout have been recognized by the US Forest Service. One ecological form is long-lived potamodromous populations in Lake Superior known as coaster trout or coasters. The second ecological form is the short-living predaceous anadromous populations which are found in northern lakes and coastal rivers from Long Island to Hudson Bay, which are referred to as salters. In parts of its range, it is also known as the eastern brook trout, speckled trout, brook char, squaretail, brookie, or mud trout, among others. Adult coaster brook trout are capable of reaching sizes over 2 feet in length and weigh up to 6.8 kg (15 lb), whereas adult salters average between 6 and 15 inches in length and weigh between 0.5 and 2.3 kg. The brook trout is characterized by its distinctive olive-green body with yellow and blue-rimmed red spots, white and black edged orange fins, and dorsal vermiculation. The diet of the brook trout is restrictive to the season and location of the fish, but will typically consist of terrestrial and aquatic insects, fry, crustaceans, zooplankton, and worms.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
None yet
Photos
2
Measurements
7
vs you
≈ 1/14th of your weight
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2024.

Population trendUnknown
Key measurements
Body mass
4.4 kg
Body length
0.26 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
24 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Brook trout

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
4.4 kgrecord 8 kg · FishBase
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Body length
0.26 mrecord 0.86 m · FishBasetypical adult
FishBase
Details ↓

Record: largest individual on record

Source: FishBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

Maximum lifespan
24 yearsrecord 24 years · FishBase
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Trophic level
3.31
FishBase
Details ↓

Source: FishBase · v25.04, estimate table · CC BY-NC 4.0

Diet
carnivoreaverage
Details ↓

From trophic level 3.31 (FishBase): <2.2 herbivore, 2.2–2.8 omnivore, >2.8 carnivore.

Danger to humans
potential pest
FishBase
Details ↓

Source: FishBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

Volume l
4.4 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Brook trout yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

More

More about the Brook trout

In other languages
siven americký (cs), puronieriä (fi), Omble de fontaine (fr), pataki pisztráng (hu), bekkerøye (nb), bronforel (nl) … and 19 more languages
Videos

No videos of the Brook trout yet.

We have 44,653 videos so far, and none of them features this animal yet.

All videos →
Tools

Compare the Brook trout

Pick a tool — the Brook trout is already selected.