Re: NANFA-- big salmonids

Dave Neely (rheopresbe_at_hotmail.com)
Tue, 18 Jan 2000 22:52:10 CST

Geoff,

>...It seems that Mongolia has a native freshwater salmonid called >the
>taiman that grows up to 100 lbs and 6 feet long. there are >historical
>records of fish over 200 lbs.

Taimen (Hucho taimen) are really some wicked-looking salmonids; they have
teeth like a musky! They occur from mid-Siberia east to the Kamchatka
peninsula. There's also a species of Hucho in the Danube basin of western
Europe (Hucho hucho), that gets almost as large. Populations of both species
are strongly depressed due to overharvest.
Eastern Russia is also home to lenok (Brachymystax lenok), which have a
whitefish-looking mouth, but colors like a redband trout. Pretty cool, even
for a salmonid! Then, of course, there's the fabled fossil sabre-toothed
salmon of the western US- extrapolation from limited fossil material puts
the max size at about 2m. They had huge canine teeth which would have
protruded from the mouth, even when closed. Wow! I actually just finished a
fun read, "Reeling in Russia" by Fen Holloway (sp?). I'd strongly recommend
it to anyone interested in both some cool fish as well as an insight into
the current state of Russia's environment and people.

cheers,
Dave

(only slightly homesick for brook charr...)

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