The Sevan trout (''Salmo ishkhan'') is an endemic fish species of

Lake Sevan Lake Sevan () is the largest body of water in both Armenia and the Caucasus region. It is one of the largest freshwater Alpine lake, high-altitude (alpine) lakes in Eurasia. The lake is situated in Gegharkunik Province, at an altitude of abov ...

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

, known as ishkhan (իշխան, ) in

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

. It is a

salmonid Salmonidae (, ) is a family of ray-finned fish, the only extant member of the suborder Salmonoidei, consisting of 11 extant genera and over 200 species collectively known as "salmonids" or "salmonoids". The family includes salmon (both Atlantic a ...

fish related to the

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a species of salmonid ray-finned fish and the most widely distributed species of the genus ''Salmo'', endemic to most of Europe, West Asia and parts of North Africa, and has been widely introduced globally ...

. The fish is endangered, because various competitors were introduced into the lake during the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

period, including

common whitefish ''Coregonus lavaretus'' is a species of freshwater whitefish, in the family Salmonidae. It is the type species of its genus ''Coregonus''. There are widely different concepts about the delimitation of the species ''Coregonus lavaretus'' and abou ...

(''Coregonus lavaretus'') from

Lake Ladoga Lake Ladoga is a freshwater lake located in the Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia, in the vicinity of Saint Petersburg. It is the largest lake located entirely in Europe, the second largest lake in Russia after Lake ...

goldfish The goldfish (''Carassius auratus'') is a freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae of the order Cypriniformes. It is commonly kept as a pet in indoor aquariums, and is one of the most popular aquarium fish. Goldfish released into the w ...

(''Carassius auratus'') and narrow-clawed crayfish (''Astacus leptodactylus''); and because of lake level change. On the other hand, the Sevan trout itself has been successfully introduced to

Issyk Kul Issyk-Kul () or Ysyk-Köl (, ; ) is an endorheic saline lake in the western Tianshan Mountains in eastern Kyrgyzstan, just south of a dividing range separating Kyrgyzstan from Kazakhstan. It is the eighth-deepest lake in the world, the eleve ...

lake in

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...

. A resolution by Armenia's Council of Ministers in 1976 stopped the

commercial fishing Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for Commerce, commercial Profit (economics), profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice ...

of Sevan trout and organized Sevan National Park. The fish are nowadays also reared in hatcheries. The Sevan trout has fourGabrielyan, B.K. (2001) . ''Naga'' vol. 24, 23–29. Севанская форель, ишхан, Salmo ischchan Kessler, 1877
www.internevod.com (or two) distinct strains differing in their breeding time and place, and growth rate: *winter bakhtak (''Salmo ischchan ischchan'') *summer bakhtak (''Salmo ischchan aestivalis'') *gegharkuni (''Salmo ischchan gegarkuni'') *bojak (''Salmo ischchan danilewskii''). The winter bakhtak is the largest form and can grow to considerable size, up to 90 cm and 15 kg. It breeds within the lake. The summer bakhtak is smaller (<50 cm), and breeds naturally both in rivers and within lake near river mouths. Gegharkuni is a migratory form that naturally breeds exclusively in rivers; it also feeds on plankton in addition to

benthos Benthos (), also known as benthon, is the community of organisms that live on, in, or near the bottom of a sea, river, lake, or stream, also known as the benthic zone.mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondrion, mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the D ...

sequences. Nevertheless, in the checklist of Armenian fish (2020) they were listed as different species.Kuljanishvili, T., G. Epitashvili, J. Freyhof, B. Japoshvili, L. Kalous, B. Levin, N. Mustafayev, S. Ibrahimov, S. Pipoyan and L. Mumladze 2020
Checklist of the freshwater fishes of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia
Journal of Applied Ichthyology v. 36 (no. 4): 501-514. As a whole, the Sevan trout is phylogenetically very close to the Caspian trout, within the

complex.

References

Salmo Freshwater fish of Asia Endemic fauna of Armenia Fish described in 1877

External links

{{Commons Category, Salmo ischchan