Brook Trout  (Salvelinus fontinalis)

Brook Trout are highly prized by anglers. They are beautifully coloured with dark backs, red and blue spots and white bellies highlighted with orange fins. 

It has a very narrow temperature range tolerance. Since it cannot tolerate pollution, siltation, or competition from other trout species, its range is primarily in clear, cold-water streams and headwater sections of rivers at altitudes above 3,000 feet. The water temperature of brook trout habitat rarely exceeds 68 degrees F.

They feed extensively on aquatic and land insects as well as on spiders, snails, fish eggs, frogs, salamanders, small fishes and crustaceans. They are common in the upper parts of many high mountain streams, fading to rare in the lower portions of these streams.

The brook trout is distinguished by light, wormlike markings on a dark upper body. The average harvest length of Tennessee brook trout is approximately six inches. The range is between four and 12 inches - a weight of about one to two pounds.

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