ALTANTIC SALMON (Ouananiche)

Can you tell the difference between an Atlantic salmon and a lake trout. Look at these two sketches carefully. The Atlantic salmon (also called ouananiche) has a much squarer tail than the lake trout, which has a deeply forked tail. The salmon's dorsal fin slopes toward the tail (caudal fin) at a much shallower angle than that of a lake trout. Are you now able to identify which sketch represents a lake trout, and which represents an Atlantic salmon?. Near spawning time, the male salmon in particular develops a slightly arched appearance and an extended lower jaw.

Atlantic salmon (ouananiche), are a land locked salmon that have adapted to life in lakes. Ocean going Atlantics, live out their lives in the Atlantic Ocean as fas away as Greenland before returning to the inland rivers of North America to spawn. Trout Lake is very fortunate to have the only self reproducing population of ouananiche in Ontario! Formerly indigenous to lake Ontario, ouananiche disappeared from Ontario in 1900 or so. Many attempts at reintroducing Atlantics in Ontario have failed everywhere, except in Trout Lake, where a 1935 stocking in Four Mile Creek was successful. But things have not been easy for the Trout Lake ouananiche. After their 1935 introduction, ouananiche became naturalised and reproduced naturally in the clean gravel bottom of Four Mile Creek.. Unforunately, a railroad zinc spill in the early 70's, a short distance up Four Mile Creek, spoiled their only reproductive area, and they became exctinct once again. Despite massive cleanup operations, zinc levels remained high for decades. Finally in 1989, the creek was deemed ready for a reintroduction of the ouananiche. The salmon were stocked for five consecutive years. Some 25 000 ouananiche were added in total, some as fingerlings and others as smolts. Recent stream surveys indicate some successful spawning. Time will tell whether or not the ouananiche population will be able to once again colonize the waters of rout Lake. In the meantime lake trout have stopped reproducing in Four Mile Bay due to overharvesting of native lake trout and habitat degradation. It may come to pass that no effort is made to reintroduce lake trout to the Four Mile Bay basin in order to minimize the inter-species competition that might exist between the ouananiche and the lake trout. Trout Lake will hopefully once again be the only naturally occurring gene pool in Ontario for Atlantic salmon.
Contrary to lake trout which spawn on wind swept shoals in the lake proper, Atlantic salmon swim up shallow, fast flowing rivers to find gravel beds in which they make nests (reds). Unlike ocean going salmon that may swim thousands of miles to reach their spawning areas, ouananiche have little distance to cover and may not die after spawning, living to spawn again the following year. The female chooses the nesting location, usually just upstream or downstream of a pool. While the male chases away other suitors, the female uses her tail to make a depression in the gravel bottom. Once she finishes her nest, she enters it and the male comes to her side. Eggs and sperm are released liberally. The female then covers the eggs with gravel. This mating ritual is repeated a number of times. The eggs are large (5 to 7 mm in diameter) and somewhat adhesive for a short time. Females lay some 700 eggs per pound of body weight. Many ouananiche survive to spawn again. Most die by the time they are 5 to 7 years old. The post-spawn females return to the lake. Every so often, some of the males decide to overwinter in the river, returning to the lake in the spring. Incubation continues in the gravel beds over the course of the winter. Hatchin usually occurs in April. The larval ouananiche remain in the gravel another month or so living off their yolk sac. Sometime in June they leave the gravel beds and start dispersing upstream and downstream, but remaining in the river. In the river, young salmon grow slowly and in some maritime locations, do not leave the river until the age of 4 to 8 years old. In Trout Lake we think that ouananiche remain in the river for two to three years. During this period they are greenish. Prior to entering the lake they undergo a colour change and become silvery. At this point they are some 15 cm long and are called smolts. Once in the lake, like other salmon, ouananiche will feed voraciously and grow rapidly. Two to three years later, after one or two spawning runs, they will die. This short life cycle makes the ouananiche very vulnerable to extinction. According to published Trout Lake data, very few salmon were seen spawning after age 5. In Trout Lake, five year old salmon had a mass averaging 5 kg or so (10 -11 lbs).

Can you tell the difference between an Atlantic salmon and a lake trout. Look at these two sketches carefully. The Atlantic salmon (also called ouananiche) has a much squarer tail than the lake trout, which has a deeply forked tail. The salmon's dorsal fin slopes toward the tail (caudal fin) at a much shallower angle than that of a lake trout. Are you now able to identify which sketch represents a lake trout, and which represents an Atlantic salmon?. Near spawning time, the male salmon in particular develops a slightly arched appearance and an extended lower jaw.

Atlantic salmon (ouananiche), are a land locked salmon that have adapted to life in lakes. Ocean going Atlantics, live out their lives in the Atlantic Ocean as fas away as Greenland before returning to the inland rivers of North America to spawn. Trout Lake is very fortunate to have the only self reproducing population of ouananiche in Ontario! Formerly indigenous to lake Ontario, ouananiche disappeared from Ontario in 1900 or so. Many attempts at reintroducing Atlantics in Ontario have failed everywhere, except in Trout Lake, where a 1935 stocking in Four Mile Creek was successful. But things have not been easy for the Trout Lake ouananiche.

After their 1935 introduction, ouananiche became naturalised and reproduced naturally in the clean gravel bottom of Four Mile Creek.. Unforunately, a railroad zinc spill in the early 70's, a short distance up Four Mile Creek, spoiled their only reproductive area, and they became exctinct once again. Despite massive cleanup operations, zinc levels remained high for decades. Finally in 1989, the creek was deemed ready for a reintroduction of the ouananiche. The salmon were stocked for five consecutive years. Some 25 000 ouananiche were added in total, some as fingerlings and others as smolts. Recent stream surveys indicate some successful spawning. Time will tell whether or not the ouananiche population will be able to once again colonize the waters of rout Lake.

In the meantime lake trout have stopped reproducing in Four Mile Bay due to overharvesting of native lake trout and habitat degradation. It may come to pass that no effort is made to reintroduce lake trout to the Four Mile Bay basin in order to minimize the inter-species competition that might exist between the ouananiche and the lake trout. Trout Lake will hopefully once again be the only naturally occurring gene pool in Ontario for Atlantic salmon.

Contrary to lake trout which spawn on wind swept shoals in the lake proper, Atlantic salmon swim up shallow, fast flowing rivers to find gravel beds in which they make nests (reds). Unlike ocean going salmon that may swim thousands of miles to reach their spawning areas, ouananiche have little distance to cover and may not die after spawning, living to spawn again the following year. The female chooses the nesting location, usually just upstream or downstream of a pool. While the male chases away other suitors, the female uses her tail to make a depression in the gravel bottom. Once she finishes her nest, she enters it and the male comes to her side. Eggs and sperm are released liberally. The female then covers the eggs with gravel. This mating ritual is repeated a number of times. The eggs are large (5 to 7 mm in diameter) and somewhat adhesive for a short time. Females lay some 700 eggs per pound of body weight. Many ouananiche survive to spawn again. Most die by the time they are 5 to 7 years old. The post-spawn females return to the lake. Every so often, some of the males decide to overwinter in the river, returning to the lake in the spring.

Incubation continues in the gravel beds over the course of the winter. Hatchin usually occurs in April. The larval ouananiche remain in the gravel another month or so living off their yolk sac. Sometime in June they leave the gravel beds and start dispersing upstream and downstream, but remaining in the river. In the river, young salmon grow slowly and in some maritime locations, do not leave the river until the age of 4 to 8 years old. In Trout Lake we think that ouananiche remain in the river for two to three years. During this period they are greenish. Prior to entering the lake they undergo a colour change and become silvery. At this point they are some 15 cm long and are called smolts. Once in the lake, like other salmon, ouananiche will feed voraciously and grow rapidly. Two to three years later, after one or two spawning runs, they will die. This short life cycle makes the ouananiche very vulnerable to extinction. According to published Trout Lake data, very few salmon were seen spawning after age 5. In Trout Lake, five year old salmon had a mass averaging 5 kg or so (10 -11 lbs).

Fisheries
Lake Trout