Arctic Char
 Salvelinus alpinus
Status
Native to both Newfoundland and
Labrador.
Habitat
They can be both anadromous (spend their
life in both fresh and salt water) or land locked. On the island char can be
found in most of the deeper lakes. They are very slow growing with the largest
char occurring in northern Labrador.
Range
Found primarily in Atlantic Provinces and
Territories of Canada. It has the most northern distribution of any North
American freshwater fish.
Food
Anadromous char may migrate to the sea
for feeding during the summer but they do not range far from their home rivers
unlike salmon (tens of miles vs hundreds of miles). Young char feed on bottom
invertebrates and the older and larger char feed on other fishes like landlocked
smelt.
Appearance
The color of Char is highly variable, in
general it is green to brown above and lighter below with pink to red spots on
the sides. Landlocked Char are silver overall.
Breeding Biology
Females will form spawning redds (gravel
dig outs) during the month of October to December in shallow water (1.0-4.5 m
depth), however this will vary according to latitude and size. Males may
fertilize the eggs from more than one female. Preferred spawning temperature is
approximately 4.0oC.
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