TROUT (Fr. truitc, from )1. Lat. trade, which, according to Diez, may be from Gr. trek yes, the mune of a voracious sea-fish, derived from t pogo, to cat), the popular name of many species of the genus sauna, as characterized by Ouvier, some of which are referred by Valenciennes to his restricted Wallt0, some toprio, and some to salar. See SALMON. The name is given to some of the silvery species, migrating to the sea, and to all the yellow species, which constantly inhabit fresh waters. The former are noticed in the article SALMON; the present article is devoted to the latter, 'Fronts are found in almost all the lakes and rivers of the temperate and colder parts of the northern hemisphere. The CO3IS1ON TROLTT (salmofario or xalar Au8onii) is widely in the eastern hemisphere, abounding iu almost all the lakes and rivers of the British islands and the n. of It is found even in very small streams, and almost to their mountain sources, but attains its largest size where there is considerable depth of water and abundance of food. An instance is on record of a trout caught in Eng land, in a branch of the Avon at Salisbury, weighing 25 lbs.; but such a size is very rare, and even in ponds where the trout are regularly fed, they seldom exceed 10 lbs. A. trout of 1 lb. or lbs. is reckoned by the angler a very fine fish; and many a stream swarming with trout produces none nearly so large. 'the head of the common trout is large; the eye large; the general form symmetrical, stouter than that of the salmon, the convexity of the outline of the back nearly similar to that of the belly; the tail is slightly forked, except in old fish, in which it becomes almost square, and sometimes even slightly convex. The teeth are numerous, strong, and curved; two rows of them extending along the whole length of the rosier, with no marked group at its front. The color is more or less yellow, but the tint varies much in the trout of different waters, sometimes passing into greenish black or violet. The color is brightest in the trout of clear streams. On the back and upper part of the sides there are numerous spots of black and red; the belly is silvery white. The spots on the sides vary much. The fins arc light brown; the dorsal fin and tail with numerous darker brown spots. The varieties
Which the common trout exhibits in tints and spots has led to the supposition that several distinct species have perhaps been confounded as one, and attempts have been made to point out their characters; but these have not proved satisfactory to the greater number of naturalists. It is certain that the appearance of the trout is much affected by the character of the water in which it lives, and the food with which it is supplied. The trout of a river with a muddy bottom are very different from those of a clear stream, and those of a stream darkly colored by moss are easily distinguished. The tint of the flesh varies as well as the external colors, being pink in some—the finest for the table—and white in others. It has been found that trout transferred from one locality to another soon change their tints.
The trout is very voracious, and readily devours almost any kind of animal food. Norms and washed into rivers by rains are very acceptable to it. Small crustaceans are supposed to he the chief food of trout in some lakes and streams which are noted for the excellence of their produce. Small fresh-water shell-fish are also a favorite food of trout. Small fish of any kind which they can capture are their prey, and multitudes of salmon-fry thus perish. A gentleman well known to the writer of tins article caught a large trout which had a very young viper in its mouth, bitten into three pieces; not yet swallowed, probably, because there was not room for it in the over-gorged stomach. The leaping of trout for flies in a summer day or evening adds to the charm of many a rural scene. Small trout often throw themselves quite out of the water; the larger ones in general merely rise to take struggling flies from its surface. The angler adapts his lures to the season and the weather. In spring and summer, when the weather is fine, the artificial fly is very successful; bait, generally the worm, is used in wet weather, or when the streams are much swollen by rains. The minnow is a good bait for large trout. No bait is more deadly than salmon roe, hut the use of it is prohibited by law in Britain, for the sake of the salmon fisheries.