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The native char of Sunapee Lake, New Hampshire (Sunapee <br />golden trout, S. alpinus oquassa), was stocked into Idaho lakes <br />in 1925. It is known to persist in two lakes. I examined <br />gillnet samples from one of the Idaho lakes which contained 12 <br />brook trout and 12 Sunapee char. The largest char (495 mm) <br />was considerably larger than the largest brook trout (225 mm). <br />I noted the largest char in this Idaho lake attain their large <br />size by cannibalizing their own young, a characteristic of large <br />S. alpinus that has been commonly reported in the literature. <br />Johnson (1980, 1983) presented comprehensive information on <br />Arctic char, particularly of populations within the Arctic <br />Circle of northern Canada. Nordeng (1983) experimentally demon- <br />strated the great plasticity in behavior types of S. alpinus in <br />Norway (but Nordeng is wrong in his belief. that he "solved the <br />char problem"). Hindar and Jonsson (1982) detailed the variety <br />of food and habitats utilized by Arctic char in a Norwegian lake. <br />Skreslet (1973a,b) concluded that gull droppings were a major <br />food supply to-char in an Arctic lake on Jan Mayen Island. <br />Fraser (1981) studied an Arctic char population in isolation <br />and compared it with a char population coexisting with-and <br />exhibiting interactive segregation from lake trout and brook <br />trout. Papst and Hopky (1983) provided data on growth of Arctic <br />char (of Arctic Circle origin) in a Manitoba hatchery. <br />These references allow some insight into the potential of <br />S. alpinus for fisheries management and aquaculture. <br />It appears that northernmost-populations of Arctic char <br />have evolved the capabilities for intense feeding and rapid <br />growth at low temperatures to survive in Aretic waters with a <br />short growing season. Johnson (1980) noted intense feeding of <br />char in marine waters where the water temperature was -1.4°C <br />(indicating that Arctic char may have some form of "anti-freeze". <br />in their blood). These same char (anadromous S. alpinus of <br />northern Canada) attain a maximum size of 12-13 kg despite a <br />growing season of about two months or less each year. They also <br />attain a great maximum age -- to 25 years and ,more. <br />First generation Arctic Circle char from wild parents were <br />raised in a Manitoba hatchery in 13°C water and fed a standard <br />trout ration (Papst and Hopky 1983). As would be expected with <br />unselected, wild salmonids, growth under artificial conditions <br />was highly variable. After 209 days of rearing, weights of , <br />individual fish varied from 10 to 530 (mean 158g). Their overall <br />average growth increment of_ 1.9% per day between days 70-154 <br />indicates the potential this particular form of Arctic char <br />holds for aquaculture. Two control groups of domesticated <br />hatchery rainbow trout raised under similar conditions exhibited <br />average growths of 1.4 and 1.9% per day. <br /> <br />