Brook trout: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the brook trout lives – recorded in 9 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Salvelinus fontinalis
Group	Bony fish
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	9 countries
Continents	Europe, North America
Class	Ray-finned fish
Order	Salmoniformes
Family	Salmonidae

Where does the brook trout live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the brook trout in 9 countries and territories across Europe and North America. In Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, France, Norway, Sweden it is listed as introduced (GRIIS checklists via GBIF).

United States
Sweden (introduced)
Canada
France (introduced)
Norway (introduced)
Switzerland (introduced)
Germany (introduced)
Denmark (introduced)
Austria (introduced)

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

Is the brook trout endangered?

The brook trout’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the brook trout?

The brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) is a ray-finned fish in the order Salmoniformes and the family Salmonidae, genus Salvelinus. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the brook trout

The brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) is a species of freshwater fish in the char genus Salvelinus of the salmon family Salmonidae native to Eastern North America in the United States and Canada. Two ecological forms of brook trout have been recognized by the US Forest Service. One ecological form is long-lived potamodromous populations in Lake Superior known as coaster trout or coasters. The second ecological form is the short-living predaceous anadromous populations which are found in northern lakes and coastal rivers from Long Island to Hudson Bay, which are referred to as salters. In parts of its range, it is also known as the eastern brook trout, speckled trout, brook char (or charr), squaretail, brookie, or mud trout, among others. Adult coaster brook trout are capable of reaching sizes over 2 feet in length and weigh up to 6.8 kg (15 lb), whereas adult salters average between 6 and 15 inches in length and weigh between 0.5 and 2.3 kg (1 and 5 lb). The brook trout is characterized by its distinctive olive-green body with yellow and blue-rimmed red spots, white and black edged orange fins, and dorsal vermiculation. The diet of the brook trout is restrictive to the season and location of the fish, but will typically consist of terrestrial and aquatic insects, fry, crustaceans, zooplankton, and worms.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Brook trout (revision 1373137373), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q723654 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).