It has a slender silhouette, very small scales, a large head, and a mouth equipped with numerous small teeth. Its back is gray-green or brown, its belly white; the back and sides are dotted with whitish, yellowish, or pinkish spots. The dorsal and caudal fins are gray; the pectoral, ventral, and anal fins are yellowish or orange, with a white edge along the anterior margin.
It lives in the cold, oxygenated waters of some alpine lakes. It feeds on zooplankton and macrozoobenthos; adults also prey on fish, including minnows, loaches, and other smaller char. Growth is slow: adults rarely exceed 30 cm in length. In high-altitude lakes, where food is poorer, char do not reach 20 cm.
It breeds in October-November: the males take on a striking livery, with their ventral parts colored red-orange. Spawning takes place in the lake, on gravel bottoms; each female lays several hundred eggs.
Arctic char has been renowned for its exquisite meat since the time of the Council of Trent. The deliciousness of the char caught in Lake Molveno and Lake Tovel is celebrated in the chronicles of local historians. The char population in Lake Tovel remains one of the largest in terms of size. The population in Lake Molveno has been partially restored—after being drained for hydroelectric power—with the reintroduction of juveniles from Lake Iseo, descendants of the Molveno stock brought to Iseo after World War I by fishermen from Montisola.
The limited local distribution of this species and its sensitivity to environmental changes require the strictest conservation measures. The introduction of other salmonids, which inevitably compete with the biotopes colonized by the Arctic char, or of non-native char, which by hybridizing with resident species can genetically alter the population, appears particularly dangerous. No restocking should be permitted in lakes that host Arctic char. Fishing, if permitted, should be strictly limited based on natural fish production. The meat of the Arctic char is considered excellent, and despite its limited distribution, the species is highly sought after locally by anglers.
Dialect: salmerin, salmarin .
G. TOMASI, 2004 - The Three Hundred Lakes of Trentino. Ed. Artimedia – Temi, Trento, 535 pp.
