The aurora trout, ''Salvelinus fontinalis timagamiensis'', is a variant or

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

of the

brook trout The brook trout (''Salvelinus fontinalis'') is a species of freshwater fish in the char genus ''Salvelinus'' of the salmon family Salmonidae. It is native to Eastern North America in the United States and Canada, but has been introduced elsewhere ...

native to two lakes in the

Temagami Temagami, formerly spelled as Timagami, is a municipality in northeastern Ontario, Canada, in the Nipissing District with Lake Temagami at its heart. The Temagami region is known as ''n'Daki Menan'', the homeland of the area's First Nations commu ...

District of

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The existence of the fish was brought to the attention of the angling world by four American anglers who were taken by Archie King of

Latchford, Ontario Latchford is a Single-tier municipality town in Timiskaming District in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It is located on Bay Lake on the Montreal River near the town of Cobalt and the municipality of Temagami and is 20 kilometres (13 miles) from th ...

, into

Lady Evelyn River The Lady Evelyn River is a river in Nipissing, Sudbury and Timiskaming Districts, Ontario, Canada. The river begins at the confluence of the North and South Lady Evelyn Rivers and flows to its mouth at the Montreal River. It lies mostly in La ...

system in 1923. Recognizing the fish as different or unique, the anglers took a specimen back to the Carnegie Museum in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, in the

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, where Dr. Arthur W. Henn was asked to identify the fish. He wrote about the fish in 1925 wherein he and Rinckenbach identified it as a distinct species, ''Salvelinus timagamiensis'', but since a seminal re-examination of the material by Sale in 1967,

taxonomists In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining ( circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are given ...

now agree the fish is, in a fact, at most a subspecies of the brook trout, named ''Salvelinus fontinalis timagamiensis''. Genetic data has not yet supported its taxonomic distinction.''Recovery Strategy for the Aurora trout (''Salvelinus fontinalis timagamiensis'') in Canada''
Species at Risk Act Recovery Strategy Series. Fisheries and Oceans Canada, July 2006. The aurora trout is distinguished from the brook trout by its unique coloration. Aurora trout are generally without spots, the colouration grading from a magenta hue on the back to a bright, nearly fluorescent orange along the belly, especially in

mature Mature is the adjectival form of maturity, as immature is the adjectival form of immaturity, which have several meanings. Mature or immature may also refer to: * Mature, a character from ''The King of Fighters'' series *"Mature 17+", a rating in ...

males. The life history of the fish is essentially identical to that of the brook trout. Adults average about 0.5 to 1.5 kg, although individuals up to 4 kg are known. The aurora trout occupied a very restricted range, probably occurring in only two lakes, Whitepine and

Whirligig A whirligig is an object that spins or whirls, or has at least one part that spins or whirls. It can also be a pinwheel, spinning top, buzzer, comic weathervane, gee-haw, spinner, whirlygig, whirlijig, whirlyjig, whirlybird, or simply a whirly. ...

, and their inflowing streams. The subspecies was

extirpated Local extinction, also known as extirpation, refers to a species (or other taxon) of plant or animal that ceases to exist in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinct ...

from the original lakes by the ravages of

acid rain Acid rain is rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it has elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). Most water, including drinking water, has a neutral pH that exists between 6.5 and 8.5, but acid ...

in the late 1950s, but was saved from

extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

by Paul Graf, a

hatchery A hatchery is a facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions, especially those of fish, poultry or even turtles. It may be used for ex-situ conservation purposes, i.e. to breed rare or endangered species under controlled condit ...

manager at the

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources The Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry is a government ministry of the Canadian province of Ontario that is responsible for Ontario's provincial parks, forests, fisheries, wildlife, mineral aggregates and the Crown lands ...

. He had brought a brood stock of the fish into the hatchery at Hill's Lake near Charlton, Ontario. He sometimes feared the fish might have been taking up valuable space in the hatchery and, on several occasions, thought about getting rid of them, until they were found to have been extirpated from the wild. Naturalised populations of aurora trout have been introduced into about a dozen lakes in

northeastern Ontario Northeastern Ontario is a secondary region of Northern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario, which lies north of Lake Huron and east of Lake Superior. Northeastern Ontario consists of the districts of Algoma, Sudbury, Cochrane, Timiska ...

as refugia. In the late 1980s, the original lakes were treated with

lime Lime commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Botany ...

to raise the pH to circumneutral conditions, and aurora trout were reintroduced. Natural

reproduction Reproduction (or procreation or breeding) is the biological process by which new individual organisms – "offspring" – are produced from their "parent" or parents. Reproduction is a fundamental feature of all known life; each individual or ...

of aurora trout has been documented in the original lakes since the reintroduction, but the pH in the lakes has since begun to decline again, presumably because of reservoirs of acidic particulate depositions in the watershed.

References

External links

''The Aurora Trout ... a Species at Risk in Ontario''
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (2010-09-27) {{DEFAULTSORT:Aurora Trout Salvelinus Fish described in 1925 Endemic fauna of Ontario