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Taxonomy and Habits of the Charrs, Salvelinus Malma and Salvelinus Alpinus, of the Karluk Drainage System
Author(s) -
DeLacy Allan C.,
Morton W. Markham
Publication year - 1943
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1942)72[79:tahotc]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - salvelinus , fish migration , meristics , biology , fishery , predation , ecology , zoology , fish <actinopterygii> , trout
In the course of a study of the importance of charrs as predators on the red salmon of the Karluk watershed on Kodiak Island, Alaska, during the summers of 1939 to 1941, it became apparent that two distinct species of charrs were present. Results of tagging experiments, of stomach examinations of thousands of charrs, and of the analysis of comprehensive morphometric and meristic data made it easy to separate the dolly varden charrs from the red lake or alpine charrs at Karluk. These species have often been confused with each other, and may show intergradation in other parts of the world. At Karluk, however, the dolly varden charr, Salvelinus malma (Walbaum), is typically anadromous, spawns in streams, and has fewer than 20 gill rakers and fewer than 35 pyloric caeca. The red lake or alpine charr, Salvelinus alpinus (Linnaeus), of the same region is not anadromous, spawns in the lake, and has more than 20 gill rakers and more than 35 pyloric caeca.