Salmo marmoratus

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Salmo marmoratus

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Salmoniformes
Family:	Salmonidae
Genus:	Salmo
Species:	S. marmoratus

Binomial name

Salmo marmoratus
Cuvier, 1829

Salmo marmoratus is a species of fish in the Salmonidae family, the second largest European trout species, second in size only to huchen (Hucho hucho). The marble trout is found in rivers of the Adriatic basin in Albania, Croatia, Italy, Montenegro, and Slovenia (Crivelli, 2005). Its natural habitat is rivers with a summer temperature of 15°C. It is threatened by habitat loss and hybridisation with introduced species. All eight remaining geneticaly pure marble trout were found in remote streams of the River Soča basin (Fumagalli et al., 2002). From these populations, Tolmin Angler's Society launched a reintroduction programme.

[edit] Appearance, Biology and Ecology

The marble trout has a long, cylindrical body, slightly compressed laterally, with a large head (22-25% of the body length) which is why it is also known as "Glavatica" ("glava" - head) in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The most obvious characteristic of marble trout is of course the marble pattern. The intensity of colour varies considerably upon the surroundings. Some marble trout have red spots that merge with the rest of the pigment, always only along the lateral line (Povž et al., 1996).

Its average size is 30-70 cm. The largest specimen in Slovenia was a 117 cm and 24 kg female (Pintar, 1991) and there are several reports of individuals weighting up to 30 kg (Povž et al., 1996). Trout become sexually mature at the age 3+ (males) and 4+ (females), they spawn during November and December.

Marble trout feed mainly on benthic invertebrates, some individuals are piscivorous.

[edit] Source

Crivelli, A.J. 2005. Salmo marmoratus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 05 August 2007.

Povž M., Jesenšek D., Berrebi P., Crivelli A.J. 1996. The marble trout.

Fumagalli, L., Snoj, A., Jesenšek, D., Balloux, F., Jug, T., Duron, O., Brossier, F., Crivelli, A.J., Berrebi, P. http://www.balkan-trout.com/prenos/PDF3_Fumagallimarmoratus.pdf Extreme genetic differentiation among the remnant populations of marble trout (Salmo marmoratus) in Slovenia. Mol. ecol., 2002, 11, p. 2711-2716.