[net.bio] Landlocked Salmon

jpexg@mit-hermes.ARPA (John Purbrick) (08/24/86)

Some lakes and rivers in Maine claim to have landlocked salmon in them. Does
this mean that salmon can in fact live all their lives in fresh water
without making their famous migration to the sea and back? Or is this
actually a different species altogether?

						--John Purbrick

evans@mhuxt.UUCP (crandall) (08/28/86)

  In response to the question:  I don't know about the landlocked salmon in
Maine, but there are standard ocean going salmon which were introduced to a
landlocked lake (Flathead Lake in Glacier Park) in Montana in the early part
of this century.  They spawn in the streams.  Bald Eagles soon discovered
them and visit each mid to late October for the fishing.  Even Canadian birds
come.  You can expect to see a few hundred.  The mystery is how so many
eagles learned of it so quickly.  The situation may change, however.  The
last we heard mining had been approved (but may be on hold) which which silt
the streams and kill the fry.

                           Sukie Crandall

jackson@utzoo.UUCP (Don Jackson) (09/05/86)

The fact of finding a landlocked species of migratory fish is  not  extraordi-
nary.   Many  species of fish normally spend the majority of their life in ei-
ther fresh or saltwater and are found briefly in the  other  system.  A  large
number  of  these  can maintain reproducing populations in a landlocked situa-
tion.

Many species, such as the sea lamprey, shad, alewife, etc. are thriving in the
Great Lakes, even though they may not have naturally occurred there and cannot
return to the Atlantic Ocean.  Similary, a number of species may be  found  in
much  smaller  inland  lakes  (i.e.  => 5 ha in surface area) throughout North
America.  Salmonids, such as the Arctic char and Atlantic salmon are found  in
small lakes in Quebec, the Arctic and Newfoundland.

Name:   Don Jackson
Mail:   Dept. Zoology, Univ. Toronto
        Toronto, Ontario, Canada    M5S 1A1
UUCP:   {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!jackson
-- 
Name:   Don Jackson
Mail:   Dept. Zoology, Univ. Toronto
        Toronto, Ontario, Canada    M5S 1A1
UUCP:   {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!jackson