Splake

Article summary

The splake or slake (Salvelinus namaycush × Salvelinus fontinalis) is a hybrid of two fish species resulting from the crossing of a male brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) and a female lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush). The name itself is a portmanteau of speckled trout (another name for brook trout) and lake trout, and may have been used to describe such hybrids as early as the 1880s. Hybrids of the male lake trout with the female brook trout (the so-called "brookinaw") have also been produced, but are not as successful. The intrageneric hybrid is of the genus Salvelinus and, hence, is most properly known as a char or charr. In some locales, the fish is referred to as the wendigo. Although the hybrid is genetically stable and is, theoretically, capable of reproducing, splake reproduction is uncommon, for behavioral reasons, outside the hatchery environment. However, in some instances splake have back-crossed with parent species that inhabit the same waters, and create a self-sustaining population of splake backcrosses. This has been documented in several instances in Wyoming and the Intermountain West, notably Hog Park Reservoir, Wyoming where Splake were accidentally stocked once in the 1980s and the population still exists today through spawning and back-crossing with Brook Trout that are also found in the watershed. .…

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