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The ecology of brown trout and Arctic charr in two lakes in Høylandet

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Food consumption, growth, fish length distributions,population sizes and habitat use of the salmonids intwo lakes in the Høylandet area were studied in1986–89. The allopatric brown trout (Salmotrutta L.) in the tarn Røyrtjønna (27 ha) fed mainlyon organisms at the lake surface , crustaceanplankton, Trichoptera and Chironomidae. Only 5% ofthe trout reached an age of 6 years and a length of25 cm. Sexual maturation started at age 3 and a lengthof 14 cm. Through mark – recapture technique thenumber of trout >10 cm was estimated to 115 ha-1.Growth, fish length frequencies and sexualmaturation of the sympatric brown trout and Arcticcharr (Salvelinus alpinus (L.)) in LakeStorgrønningen (530 ha) were not much different. TheStorgrønningen charr fed chiefly on zooplankton whichby volume represented 33% for the trout. The foodconsumption of Storgrønningen trout was at maximum inJuly with 2.06 mg food (d.w.) per g live fish and forcharr in September with 1.26 mg food. The maximumsize-independent growth rate of trout was 5.2%day-1 in late June, and for charr 4.1%day-1 in late July. Seventy percent of theirseasonal growth took place before 15 August. The charrstayed mainly deeper than 3-4 m, at water temperatures<15 °C. Brown trout stayed mainly the littoralzone and in near surface water of the pelagic. Thenumber of pelagic charr was estimated hydroacusticallyto 50 ind. ha-1. The charr spawn in thelake. Mean numbers of juvenile trout in the twolargest tributaries were 26 and 48 per 100 m2.Their annual length increment was 2.8–3.4 cm. Noindication of acidification or other human inducedimpacts were found. The lakes and their tributariesrepresent complex aquatic systems, representative forpristine oligotrophic Norwegian lowland lakes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), Tungasletta 2, N-7004, Trondheim, Norway

    Terje Nøst

  2. Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), P.O. Box 736 Sentrum, N-0105, Oslo, Norway

    Ivar P. Muniz

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  1. John W. Jensen
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  2. Terje Nøst
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  3. Ivar P. Muniz
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John W. Jensen died shortly after easter in 1996

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Jensen, J.W., Nøst, T. & Muniz, I.P. The ecology of brown trout and Arctic charr in two lakes in Høylandet. Hydrobiologia 348, 127–143 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1003045402520

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