TROUT, a term applied generally to various species of fishes belonging to the salmon family (Salmonidx). The best known species, and that which par excel lence receives the name, is the Salm° fario or common trout, a fish which in habits clear and running streams, and is mostly to be found tenanting some spe cial nook from which it has to be warily drawn by the fly of the angler. The color of the trout is very characteristic. It is of a yellowish-brown color above, variegated with a dark reddish-brown hue, and marked by spots of a brilliant carmine along the lateral line. Below, a silvery white luster prevails, and the under part of the sides are a rich golden yellow. Trout subsist largely on insects, worms, and the like fare. The bait which tempts it varies greatly from the fly to the minnow. A very peculiar and at the same time interesting fashion of capturing trout is in vogue among juve nile fishers, and is named "tickling." Great Britain and of northern Europe at large.
A second species of trout is the salmon trout (Salmo trutta), which closely re sembles the salmon in its general habits, especially in those relating to migration to the sea, and returning to the rivers to spawn. The common trout spawns about the end of October, the sexual difference between male and female then becoming markedly apparent in the elongation of the lower jaw of the former; the salmon trout spawning at about the same period. Certain species of trout are confined to certain lakes or streams, and are not found outside the bounds of these waters. In such cases special indicate the specific character of the fishes. Of such cases, a well-known example is the Loch Leven trout (S. Levenensis), which inhabits Loch Leven in Kinross-shire, a lake also tenanted by the common trout.
This process consists in feeling beneath the river banks for these fishes, in holes and like situations where they rest; when a fish is touched, the hand is out spread to prevent its escape, while, ap parently, the fish, mesmerized by the ac tion of the fingers on its sides, remains sufficiently quiet to permit of its sudden and speedy capture. The color and flesh of the trout appear to vary with the particular locality in which the fish is found. The average weight of the com mon trout is from three-fourths to one pound. Fishes which exceed one pound
in weight may be regarded as exception ally fine specimens. The trout is found in all the large streams and lakes of From the latter the Loch Leven trout is distinguished by its larger size, and by the more pointed form of the pectoral fins. The tail fin is also more pointed than in the common trout, and the flesh is reddish, and wants the white or pink tint of the common trout's muscles. The pyloric caeca, or blind and pocket-like appendages attached to the hinder mar gin of the stomach of most fishes (and supposed to represent a pancreas or sweetbread), number from 60 to 80 in the Loch Leven trout, whereas in the common trout they are much fewer. A third species of trout is the Great Lake trout (S. ferox), common in some of the larger lakes of Great Britain and Ire land. It may attain a weight of 30 pounds or more, and has a prominent muzzle, and a square, truncated tail fin. The color is a dark brown, tinted with purple. This fish is a greedy feeder, de vouring large numbers of smaller fishes, and is taken by night lines, or by trolling with strong tackle and a small trout for bait. The flesh is coarser than that of the preceding species. Like the Loch Leven trout the Gillaroo trout is limited in its distribution to Lough Neagh and other lakes in the N. of Ireland; and the lake trout (S. Leniamits) is confined to the Lake of Geneva.
Trout are plentifully found in Ameri can waters. The common brook trout (Salmo fontinalis) is almost identical, if not wholly so, with the common trout of the Old World. A second well-known American species is the Saimo con finis, or North American lake trout, which ap pears to find a congenial habitat in deep lakes. Its color is dark, mottled with gray spots, and it may attain a weight of over 50 pounds. The red-bellied trout (S. erythogaster) occurs in fresh waters in Pennsylvania and New York, and averages from to 2 feet in length. The Oregon trout (S. Oregonensis) is one of the best-known and localized American species of trout, inhabiting the rivers and streams which run from the Rocky Mountains, and resembling the common trout of Europe both in size and appearance. See SALMON.