''Salvelinus leucomaenis'', the whitespotted char, is an East Asian
trout in the
genus ''
Salvelinus'', called ''iwana'' in
Japanese and ''kundzha'' (кунджа) in Russian. Both landlocked and
ocean-run forms occur. The landlocked form typically grows up to , and prefers low-temperature
streams
A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...
. The seagoing fish typically grows to long. The largest reported specimen was long and the oldest was nine years old.
''Iwana'' is widely fished in Japan. Apart from
Hokkaido in Japan, the species is found in northeast
Korea and in
Russia in
Sakhalin,
Kuril Islands and
Kamchatka.
The
kirikuchi char
The kirikuchi char, ''Salvelinus leucomaenis japonicus'', is a freshwater fish in the family Salmonidae. It is endemic to the Kii Peninsula of central Honshu in Japan. It is the southernmost population of the char genus ''Salvelinus'' and is cons ...
(''Salvelinus leucomaenis japonicus'' or ''Salvelinus japonicus'') is usually considered a
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 ''S. leucomaenis''. Two other subspecies are also listed, ''S. l. imbrius'' and ''S. l. pluvius''.
References
*
leucomaenis
Fish of Japan
Fish described in 1814
{{Salmoniformes-stub