The only really well-authenticated species of charr in European waters is the red charr, sälbling, or ombre chevalier (Salvelinus alpinus). This species is found in cold, clear streams in Switzerland, Germany, and throughout Scandinavia and the British Islands. Compared with the American charr or brook-trout, it is a slenderer fish, with smaller mouth, longer fins, and smaller red spots, which are confined to the sides of the body. It is a "gregarious and deep-swimming fish, shy of taking the bait and feeding largely at night-time. It appears to require very pure and mostly deep water for its residence." It is less tenacious of life than the trout. It reaches a weight of from one to five pounds, probably rarely exceeding the latter in size. The various charr described from Siberia are far too little known to be enumerated here.
Of the American charr the one most resembling the European species is the Rangeley Lake trout (Salvelinus oquassa). The exquisite little fish is known in the United States only from the Rangeley chain of lakes in western Maine. This is very close to the Greenland charr, Salvelinus stagnalis, a beautiful species of the far north. The Rangeley trout is much slenderer than the common brook-trout, with much smaller head and smaller mouth. In life it is dark blue above, and the deep-red spots are confined to the sides of the body. The species rarely exceeds the length of a foot in the Rangeley Lakes, but in some other waters it reaches a much larger size. So far as is known it keeps itself in the depths of the lake until its spawning season approaches, in October, when it ascends the stream to spawn.
Fig. 73.—Sunapee Trout, Salvelinus aureolus Bean. Sunapee Lake, N. H.
Still other species of this type are the Sunapee trout, Salvelinus aureolus, a beautiful charr almost identical with the European species, found in numerous ponds and lakes of eastern New Hampshire and neighboring parts of Maine. Mr. Garman regards this trout as the offspring of an importation of the ombre chevalier and not as a native species, and in this view he may be correct. Salvelinus alipes of the far north may be the same species. Another remarkable form is the Lac de Marbre trout of Canada, Salvelinus marstoni of Garman.
In Arctic regions another species, called Salvelinus naresi, is very close to Salvelinus oquassa and may be the same.
Another beautiful little charr, allied to Salvelinus stagnalis, is the Floeberg charr (Salvelinus arcturus). This species has been brought from Victoria Lake and Floeberg Beach, in the extreme northern part of Arctic America, the northernmost point whence any salmonoid has been obtained.
Fig. 74.—Speckled Trout (male), Salvelinus fontinalis (Mitchill). New York.
