''Salvelinus murta'', also known as the Murta char, is a cold-water

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

in the family

Salmonidae 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 ...

sometimes referenced as a subspecies of

Arctic char The Arctic char or Arctic charr (''Salvelinus alpinus'') is a cold-water fish in the family Salmonidae, native to alpine lakes and arctic and subarctic coastal waters. Its distribution is Circumpolar North. It spawns in freshwater and populatio ...

. The Murta char is one of the few vertebrate species exclusively endemic to

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. The species range lies entirely within the lake

Þingvallavatn Þingvallavatn (), anglicised as Thingvallavatn,The spelling ''Pingvallavatn'' is wrong as the letter “p” should never be used to represent the letter “þ” (thorn). is a rift valley lake in southwestern Iceland. With a surface of 84 km² ...

. The Murta Char was originally described by the Icelandic icthyologist

Bjarni Sæmundsson Bjarni is an Icelandic male given name and may refer to: * Bjarni Ármannsson resigned as CEO of Glitnir (formerly Íslandsbanki) in May 2007 * Bjarni Ólafur Eiríksson (born 1982), footballer (defender) from Iceland *Bjarni Benediktsson (born ...

in 1909. According to the most recent IUCN assessment in 2008, there are some

piscivorous A piscivore () is a carnivorous animal that eats primarily fish. The name ''piscivore'' is derived . Piscivore is equivalent to the Greek-derived word ichthyophage, both of which mean "fish eater". Fish were the diet of early tetrapod evoluti ...

individual variants displaying non-standard morphology that eat

three-spined stickleback The three-spined stickleback (''Gasterosteus aculeatus'') is a fish native to most inland and coastal waters north of 30°N. It has long been a subject of scientific study for many reasons. It shows great morphological variation throughout its ra ...

although most individuals rely heavily on

zooplankton Zooplankton are the animal component of the planktonic community ("zoo" comes from the Greek word for ''animal''). Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents, and consequently drift or are carried along by ...

and aquatic insects. The Murta Char is confirmed to live up to 18 years with first spawning usually occurring at 3–6 years of age in October.

Description

The species is recognized by silvery bluish flanks and pale spots. Spawning males become more brown with yellow tinted spots. There is no obvious white anterior margin to the pectoral, pelvic, or anal fins. The snout is conical and has a longer diameter than the eye. The mouth is subterminal, with only a slight projection of the upper jaw.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q974676 murta Cold water fish Fish described in 1909 Fish of Iceland Endemic fauna of Iceland Freshwater fish of Europe