Fish & Water - Sounds Wild
Arctic Char

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Arctic Char

Early summer in Western Alaska and young salmon sockeye smolts are headed from freshwater lakes out to sea. But on the way they face a gauntlet of hungry predators, including other fish. One eager predator of the young salmon is their trout-like cousin, the Arctic Char.

Wild Arctic char range across the northern polar regions. Arctic char are found in lakes in the Brooks Range, the Kuskokwim Mountains, on the Alaska Peninsula, the Kenai Peninsula, Kodiak Island, and in a small area of Interior Alaska near Denali Park. The Arctic char is also widely stocked throughout Alaska in roadside put-and-take fisheries.

The Arctic char is the northernmost freshwater fish in the world. These trout are circumpolar in distribution, and their life history patterns vary between different populations. Fish over 10 pounds are found in some Alaska lakes, while other lakes may not produce fish over 2 pounds even though fish may reach great age. In Russia, Arctic char can reach 30 pounds or more.

Arctic Char exhibit both anadromous life history and non-anadromous life history patterns. Some go to sea for much of their lives and return to freshwater to spawn, and others spend their entire lives as residents of freshwater. Unlike Pacific salmon, which return to freshwater to spawn but die shortly thereafter, the anadromous forms of Arctic char and the closely-related Dolly Varden can move between fresh and saltwater easily and live to spawn several times.