| Salvelinus obtusus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Salmoniformes |
| Family: | Salmonidae |
| Genus: | Salvelinus |
| Species: | S. obtusus |
| Binomial name | |
| Salvelinus obtusus Regan, 1908 | |
| Synonyms | |
Salvelinus obtusus, commonly called the blunt-nosed Irish charr [2] or blunt-snouted Irish char, [3] is a species of lacustrine char fish in the family Salmonidae, found in the Lakes of Killarney, Ireland. [4]
The English word "char[r]" is thought to derive from Old Irish ceara/cera meaning "[blood] red," [5] referring to its pink-red underside. [6] [7] This would also connect with its Welsh name torgoch, "red belly." [8]
The species name obtusus is Latin for "blunt."
Salvelinus obtusus is benthopelagic and can grow up to 18 cm (7.1 in). It is distinguished from other Salvelinus in Ireland by its obtuse snout, rounded dorsal profile and short lower jaw, which is included in the upper jaw when the mouth is closed. [9] Its body depth is 20–25% of snout length. [10] [11]
Salvelinus obtusus is only found in Muckross Lake and Lough Leane, and is threatened by eutrophication.
It was formerly found in Lough Tay, Lough Dan, [12] [13] Lough Nalughraman and Lough Acoose, [14] but is now considered extirpated at those sites and is critically endangered. [1] [15]
Charles Tate Regan FRS was a British ichthyologist, working mainly around the beginning of the 20th century. He did extensive work on fish classification schemes.
Killarney National Park, near the town of Killarney, County Kerry, was the first national park in Ireland, created when the Muckross Estate was donated to the Irish Free State in 1932. The park has since been substantially expanded and encompasses over 102.89 km2 of diverse ecology, including the Lakes of Killarney, oak and yew woodlands of international importance, and mountain peaks. It has the only red deer herd on mainland Ireland and the most extensive covering of native forest remaining in Ireland. The park is of high ecological value because of the quality, diversity, and extensiveness of many of its habitats and the wide variety of species that they accommodate, some of which are rare. The park was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1981. The park forms part of a Special Area of Conservation and a Special Protection Area.
The Arctic char or Arctic charr is a cold-water fish in the family Salmonidae, native to alpine lakes and arctic and subarctic coastal waters. Its distribution is Circumpolar North. It spawns in freshwater and populations can be lacustrine, riverine, or anadromous, where they return from the ocean to their fresh water birth rivers to spawn. No other freshwater fish is found as far north; it is, for instance, the only fish species in Lake Hazen on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic. It is one of the rarest fish species in Great Britain and Ireland, found mainly in deep, cold, glacial lakes, and is at risk from acidification. In other parts of its range, such as the Nordic countries, it is much more common, and is fished extensively. In Siberia, it is known as golets and it has been introduced in lakes where it sometimes threatens less hardy endemic species, such as the small-mouth char and the long-finned char in Elgygytgyn Lake.
Lough Leane is the largest of the three lakes of Killarney. The River Laune flows from the lake into the Dingle Bay to the northwest.
Salvelinus is a genus of salmonid fish often called char or charr; some species are called "trout". Salvelinus is a member of the subfamily Salmoninae within the family Salmonidae. The genus has a northern circumpolar distribution, and most of its members are typically cold-water fish that primarily inhabit fresh waters. Many species also migrate to the sea.
Lough Melvin is a lake in the northwest of the island of Ireland on the border between County Leitrim and County Fermanagh. It is internationally renowned for its unique range of plants and animals.
The Killarney shad, also called the goureen, is a freshwater fish in the family Clupeidae, endemic to a single lake in Ireland, Lough Leane in County Kerry. Research has shown that it is a landlocked subspecies of the anadromous, twait shad, arriving in the lake after the Last Glacial Maximum about 10,000 years ago. This fish is at risk from eutrophication and the introduction of alien species of fish to the lake and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated it as "critically endangered".
Salvethymus svetovidovi, also called the long-finned charr, is a species of salmonid fish. It is endemic to Elgygytgyn Lake in Chukotka, Far East of Russia, together with another char species, the small-mouth char Salvelinus elgyticus. A third char species in the same lake is the Boganid charSalvelinus cf. boganidae.
Salvelinus profundus is a deepwater char species found only in deep areas of Lake Constance.
Salvelinus evasus, is a vulnerable deepwater char or trout living in the Ammersee lake in Bavaria, Southern Germany.
Loch Mealt is an inland fresh-water loch on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. It lies close to Ellishadder and south of Staffin, on the eastern side of the Trotternish peninsula.
Salvelinus inframundus, also known as Orkney charr is a cold-water fish in the family Salmonidae which is endemic to Scotland.
Salvelinus killinensis, also known as Haddy charr is a variety of charr found in certain lakes in Scotland.
Muckross Lake, also called Middle Lake or The Torc, is a lake in Killarney National Park, County Kerry, Ireland. It is one of the three famous Lakes of Killarney, along with Lough Leane and Upper Lake. It is Ireland's deepest lake, reaching to 75 metres (246 ft) in parts.
Lough Acoose is a freshwater lake in the southwest of Ireland. It is located on the Iveragh Peninsula of County Kerry near the MacGillycuddy's Reeks mountains.
A kype is a hook-like secondary sex characteristic which develops at the distal tip of the lower jaw in some male salmonids prior to the spawning season. The structure usually develops in the weeks prior to, and during, migration to the spawning grounds. In addition to the development of the kype, a large depression forms in the two halves of the premaxilla in the upper jaw, allowing the kype to fit into the premaxilla when the mouth is closed.
Salvelinus colii, also called Cole's char, Enniskillen char or Trevelyan's char, is a cold-water species of char fish in the family Salmonidae.
The Coomsaharn char is a species of lacustrine char fish in the family Salmonidae.
Salvelinus grayi, also called Gray's char[r], Lough Melvin char[r] or freshwater herring, is a species of lacustrine char fish in the family Salmonidae.
Trout and char of the world | ||
|---|---|---|
| Trout of Europe and Atlantic basin Salmo |    | |
| Trout of the Pacific basin Oncorhynchus | ||
| True char Salvelinus | ||
 Media related to Trout at Wikimedia Commons | ||
