Arctic Char (Salvelinus alpinus)

Life History

There are over 300 separate Char populations within the Uk, the variation between populations is huge, they differ between different and in addition some lakes/lochs may have four or five distinct populations. These different populations will have differing feeding habits, occupy different areas and depths and may differ in size, shape and colour.

Arctic Charr, as the name suggests prefer the colder waters of Northern Europe, Russia and North America. They originally arrived as sea run Char and over time lost the migratory tendencies and remained in freshwater. sea run charr only occur in the northernmost part of their range; above 65 degrees latitude and therefore not in the UK.

Charr are members of the same family (as brook trout, Dolly Varden and bull trout which are all native to North America. Scotland is a stronghold for Arctic charr. Most of our Arctic charr populations occupy standing waters: 258 Scottish lochs are known to contain the species.

Charr tend to spawn in gravel shallows or within tributaries of the lochs they inhabit, again this is dependant on the individual population. They show a marked change in colour during spawning, with males often turning a vivid red colour. As with trout, charr do not die after spawning and may spawn two or three times in their lifetime.