FISHES OF COLORADO 85 



This trout is one of the most handsome of the fresh-water fishes, and its 

 brilliant coloration, the rugged situations from which it is usually taken and the 

 splendid sport it offers have combined to make it one of the most prized game 

 fishes. It is quite hardy, an additional factor contributing to its wide introduc- 

 tion throughout the Rocky Mountain region. The Eastern Brook Trout is a 

 native of northeast United States and southern Canada east of the Mississippi 

 River, ranging south along the Appalachian Mountains into northern Georgia, 

 yet so completely is it established in the streams of the Rocky Mountains, it seems 

 part of the native fauna of Colorado. 



Salvelinus fontinalis in Colorado spawns from late October to early December, 

 the eggs for the fish hatcheries being collected in November. The eggs are 

 deposited on the gravel bottom of small, shallow streams and do not hatch until 

 the water begins to get warm in the spring. 



Genus CRISTIVOMER Gill and Jordan 

 The Great Lakes Trout 



Cristivomer Gill and Jordan, in Jordan, Manual of Vertebrates Eastern U.S., ed. II, p. 356, 1878. 



The species of this genus difter from those of the genus Salvelinus in the type 

 of vomer; this bone in Cristivomer has a raised crest. The species of Cristivomer 

 are also more elongate and are without red spots, the sides of the body being much 

 mottled and blotched with gray or rarely pinkish gray. This genus is represented 

 in Colorado by the single introduced species, the Mackinaw Trout. 



Cristivomer namaycush (Walbaum) 

 Great Lakes Trout, Mackinaw Trout 



"Namaycush Salmon" — Pennant, Arctic Zoology, Introd., p. 191, 1792 (Hudson Bay). 

 Salmo namaycush Walbaum, Artedi Piscium, p. 68, 1792 (Hudson Bay). 

 Cristivomer namaycush (Walbaum) — ^Juday, Bull. U.S. Fish Com., Vol. XXVI, p. 162, 1906 

 (Twin Lakes) . 



Body distinctly elongate; head long, 4 to 4. 5, depth 4 or a little less in the 

 length; caudal peduncle rather narrow, its least depth about 3 in the head; dorsal 

 rays 1 1 , anal rays 1 1 . 



General color dusky or dark gray, lighter ventrally; head and mid-dorsal 

 region quite dark; sides, dorsal and caudal fins much mottled with irregularly 

 rounded, pale-gray or rarely pinkish-gray spots; the largest of the trout reaching 

 a weight of over 100 pounds. 



The Mackinaw Trout is a native of the Great Lakes and of the larger lakes in 

 northeastern United States and Canada, ranging from Maine into Alaska. Its 

 odd specific name "Namaycush" is that by which it is known among the Canadian 

 Indians, who prize it as a food fish. In the Great Lakes this trout lives in the 

 deep water, spawning in the late fall on the shoals and reefs. The food of this 



