''Salmo ohridanus'', also known by the local name as the ''belvica'' in North Macedonia or ''belushka'' in

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

, is a species of freshwater

salmonid Salmonidae is a family of ray-finned fish that constitutes the only currently extant family in the order Salmoniformes . It includes salmon (both Atlantic and Pacific species), trout (both ocean-going and landlocked), chars, freshwater whitefis ...

fish,

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Lake Ohrid Lake Ohrid ( mk, Охридско Езеро , al, Liqeni i Ohrit , also referred as ''Liqeni i Pogradecit'';) is a lake which straddles the mountainous border between the southwestern part of North Macedonia and eastern Albania. It is one of Eu ...

and

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

.Lake Ohrid trouts
Balkan trout restoration group. Downloaded on 19 May 2010. ''Salmo ohridanus'' is a relatively small fish, usually shorter than 30 cm and less than 0.5 kg weight. It is a commercially exploited species subject to heavy fishing, and has been bred in fish farms for over 50 years. It has also been intentionally hybridized with another endemic species, the

Ohrid trout Ohrid trout or the Lake Ohrid brown trout
Balkan trout restoration group. Downloaded on 20 May 2010. (''Sal ...

(''

Salmo letnica Ohrid trout or the Lake Ohrid brown trout
Balkan trout restoration group. Downloaded on 20 May 2010. (''Sal ...

''). It is threatened by the hybridization, degradation of water quality and

overfishing Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing fish stock), resulting in th ...

; but the stock remains abundant. In earlier literature the belvica has variously been treated as belonging to suggested endemic genera ''

Acantholingua ''Salmo ohridanus'', also known by the local name as the ''belvica'' in North Macedonia or ''belushka'' in Albania, is a species of freshwater salmonid fish, endemic to Lake Ohrid in Albania and North Macedonia.Salmothymus ''Salmothymus'' is a genus name of fish in the family Salmonidae, established for the Adriatic trout (''Salmothymus obrusirostris''). More commonly, however, the species is considered a member of the wider genus ''Salmo'', i.e. ''Salmo obtusirost ...

''.Eschmeyer W (2007
''Acantholingua''
Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Downloaded on 19 May 2010. Genetic studies however indicate it is a good member of the genus ''

Salmo ''Salmo'' is a genus of ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae. The single ''Salmo'' species naturally found in the Atlantic North America is the Atlantic salmon, whereas the salmon and trout of the Pacific basin belong to another genus, ''O ...

'', and closest to the softmouth trout ''Salmo obtusirostris''.Ales Snoj, Enver Melkic, Simona Susnik, Samir Muhamedagic et Peter Dovc (2002)
''DNA phylogeny supports revised classification of Salmothymus obtusirostris''
In ''Biological Journal of the Linnean Society'', 19 August 2002, 77, 399 – 411. Nevertheless, it is quite distinct from the

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morph ...

complex.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q134339 ohridanus Freshwater fish of Europe Fish described in 1892 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot