Creature Feature Encyclopedia: Osteichthyes

Lake Trout Salvelinus namaycush Size: to 4' 2" (1.3 m) Habitat: deep, cold waters of lakes in Upper North America

Scouting Trout
by Gretchen Askers, Planet Scout Gazette Staff

Lake Trout are the largest trout native to North America. They inhabit the deep, cold waters of northern lakes and rivers. Once revered by the Native Americans of the Great Lakes, the Lake Trout suffered from water pollution in the mid-20th century. Their populations in the Great Lakes were also severely depleted by an influx of parasitic Sea Lampreys caused by the building of a new canal between Lake Erie and the St. Lawrence Seaway in the 1940's.

~Salamander Rain: A Lake and Pond Journal © 2001