Native+Brook+Trout


 * __ Pennsylvania's __****__ State __****__ Fish: __**
 * __ Brook Trout __**
 * The Brook Trout is Pennsylvania’s only native trout. On this page is some general information on the Brook Trout. **
 * Pictures: **



**Scientific Name:** The scientific name of brook trout is Salvelinus Fontinalis which means North American fresh water trout.

**Coloring/Markings:** Has a green to brown basic coloration with a distinctive marbled pattern of lighter shades across the flanks and back an extending at least to the dorsal fin and often to the tail. There are red dots, surrounded by blue haloes, along the flank. The belly and lower fins are reddish in color, the latter with white leading edges.

**Other Physical Features:** They usually weigh between 11 ounces and 2 pounds. They are usually 10 to 16 inches long. The maximum record length is 33 in. and the maximum record weight is 14lb. They can live to be between 7 and 15 years old.

**Habitat Information:** The Brook Trout are native to small streams, creeks, lakes, and spring ponds. They prefer clear water. A Brook Trout habitat has to have protective banks, undercuts, and logjams covering the water for spawning and must have aquatic insects.

**Diet:** Brook trout eat tiny larval insects, small fish, field mice and even snakes.

**Spawning locations:** They spawn in the fall at places where groundwater wells up, which is more important to them then the size of the subtrate.

**Interesting facts:** The brook trout is native to northern North America and is widely distributed throughout the Maritime Provinces. It occurs in clear, cool, well-oxygenated streams and lakes. This species spawns in late summer or autumn in gravel beds in the shallows of headwaters of streams. The female digs the redd where she lays 100-5000 eggs depending on her size. They hatch 50-100 days later. The life expectancy is an average of five years. The brook trout is carnivorous and feed upon a wide range of organisms. They have been known to eat their own eggs at spawning time and even their own young.