Charr,

Charr, or CHAR, a name applied to a number of fresh-water fishes in the salmon and trout genus Salmo. They are found almost exclusively in mountainous lakes—e.g. in Switzerland, Scandinavia, and in the English Lake district. The presence of charr has also been recorded in Scotland (especially in Loch Earn), Ireland, and Wales; but their British headquarters are in Windermere and the adjacent Cumberland and Westmoreland lakes. The charr differs from the true salmon only in a few small points, such as the restriction of the vomer teeth to the head of that bone; and the distinctions between the numerous recorded species of charr seem rather local variations than of specific importance. The title S. salvelinus is one of the commonest; S. alpinus is also applied to both Swiss and English charrs; S. umbra is sometimes restricted as the title of the ombre chevalier of the lakes of Constance, Neufchâtel, and Geneva; and many other names indicate slight differences in size, form, colour, &c. The common English and Swiss charr is distinguished by the bright red and orange colour of the abdomen during the breeding season, but at all seasons the variable colours are bright and pleasing. They thrive only in clear water, frequent the deeper parts of the lake, and feed on insects and small crustaceans. At the end of autumn and beginning of winter they leave the lake to find in the inflowing streams the stony bottom necessary for the deposition of the ova. The charr is as palatable as it is beautiful, and is much valued as a dainty, both when fresh and potted. It is to be regretted that the habit of catching them by wholesale netting at the mouths of streams at the beginning of the spawning season has led to a great reduction of their numbers in the English lakes. The American charr (S. fontinalis) is bred by the Fish Commission, and has been introduced into Britain.