Ohrid trout
| Ohrid trout | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Salmoniformes |
| Family: | Salmonidae |
| Genus: | Salmo |
| Species: | S. letnica |
| Binomial name | |
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Salmo letnica (S. Karaman, 1924) |
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Ohrid trout or the Lake Ohrid brown trout (Salmo letnica) is an endemic species of trout in Lake Ohrid and in its tributaries and outlet, the Black Drin river, in the Republic of Macedonia and Albania in the Balkans. Locally, the fish is known as koran in Albanian and охридска пастрмка (ohridska pastrmka) in Macedonian.
Ohrid trout is part of the brown trout complex, so its taxonomic status is controversial. It has, however, been deemed to be genetically sufficiently distinct to be regarded as a distinct species for conservation arguments.
Within the Ohrid trout, up to four intralacustrine forms have been separated, which are treated as distinct species in the FishBase and by the IUCN. Morphological or molecular data so far do not support this division, though. These forms are characterized by different breeding areas and different breeding times, by which they are thought to be reproductively isolated from each other. The four forms or species include:
In addition to the Ohrid trout, Lake Ohrid has another endemic and truly distinct salmonid, Salmo ohridanus.
The Ohrid trout is a specialty in Macedonian and Albanian gastronomy; it is used for soups and other dishes. It tastes like a brown trout crossed with an Atlantic salmon.
In recent years, extensive fishing has driven the Ohrid trout to the verge of extinction, though several conservation activities are going on. A fishing ban has been imposed by the government of Macedonia, since 2004 and until 2014. In Albania, since 2003, the state law on fisheries prohibits fishing during the spawning period only, but no restrictions exist for the rest of the year, and the fish population is still dwindling due to illegal fishing and overfishing.
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Wikipedia