Brook Trout
FRESHWATER FISH
Brook Trout are an indicator species for clean, cold water. Once plentiful in Twelve Mile Creek, Brook Trout numbers are dwindling.
OUR FOCUS
Once plentiful in Twelve Mile Creek, native Brook Trout serve as the best indicator of a healthy watershed
While technically not a trout at all, but a char, Brook Trout are known by many names, including speckled trout, specks, brookies,brook char and squaretail.
Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) are among the most beautiful of freshwater fish, exhibiting bright orange and yellow flanks with red and yellow spots. They can grow to over four kilos in areas where conditions are ideal, but in southern Ontario, a 12-inch “Brookie” is a large fish. Brook Trout are easy to distinguish from other trout species, with characteristic blue halos around red spots on their sides and white leading edges with black stripes on their pectoral fins.
Brook Trout share cold water streams with two introduced species of trout, the Rainbow and Brown Trout, both of which outcompete and eventually replace Brook Trout in waters where they are found together.
Male Brook Trout chases Brown Trout away from its nest.
© Ian D. Smith, 01 November 2017
MORE TOPICS