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Lake Trout   
Salvelinus namaycush
  
Status
Native to Labrador.

Habitat
In general, the lake trout prefers deep waters, however, in Labrador where lakes are often shallow it can be found in water depths of 30 feet.

Range
Found in all Provinces in Canada. In NF it is found in Labrador.

Food
Lake trout feed on suckers, burbot, whitefish and pike. Lake trout are most vulnerable when they are young. Therefore, the young fish move to deep water, out of reach from predators, such as mature lake trout.

Appearance
Deeply forked tail; many small often bean shaped spots on dark green to gray head, body and dorsal and caudal fins.

Breeding Biology
The lake trout spawns in the fall, on rocky shoals and in river mouths at depths less then 40 feet of water. Sexual maturity is reached at about 7 to 8 years of age. Lake trout will spawn every second or third year. Spawning events occur at night when water temperatures are between 8.90C and 13.90C. The spawning beds are first cleaned by brushing the bottom with both fins and body. One or two males will spawn with each female. The number of eggs deposited by each female largely depends on body size, but the range is between 400-1200 eggs. There is some evidence to suggest that lake trout will return to the same spawning shoal from year to year. After spawning lake trout will migrate large distances from the spawning beds, sometimes traveling up to 100 miles. In general the egg incubation period is between 15 to 21 weeks. No parental care is given the eggs after spawning.

 


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