Kingdom Animalia Order Salmoniformes Genus Salvelinus Higher classification Salvelinus | Phylum Chordata Family Salmonidae Scientific name Salvelinus leucomaenis Rank Species | |
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Similar Salvelinus, Sakhalin taimen, Oncorhynchus masou, Dolly Varden trout, Japanese salmon | ||
Salvelinus leucomaenis, the whitespotted char, is an East Asian trout in the genus Salvelinus, called iwana in Japanese. Both landlocked and ocean-run forms occur. The landlocked form typically grows up to 35 cm (1 ft 2 in), and prefers low-temperature streams. The seagoing fish typically grows to 70 cm (28 in) long. The largest reported specimen was 120 cm (3 ft 11 in) long and the oldest was nine years old.
Iwana is widely fished in Japan. Apart from Hokkaido in Japan, the species is found in northeast Korea and in Russia in Sakhalin, Kuril Islands and Kamchatka.
The kirikuchi char (Salvelinus leucomaenis japonicus or Salvelinus japonicus) is usually considered a subspecies of S. leucomaenis. Two other subspecies are also listed, S. l. imbrius and S. l. pluvius.
