The trout is considered the pride of the Greek mountain rivers. It's a beautiful fish with very succulent and easily digestible meat that belongs to the Salmoninae family. We will proceed to review the trout from the standpoint of its biology, its behaviour and its particular habits.

Biology

The trout is a fish that thrives in cold, clean and highly oxygenated water. The temperature it prefers, and where most of its activity is noted, is between 12-15^o degrees Celsius (53-59o Farenheit). When the water's temperature drops too much – below 4^oC (39^oF) – its growth stops. Similarly, in the summer, when the temperature rises and the water surpasses 20^oC (68^oF), its appetite disappears. Even though this is a general rule, there are always exceptions; I have caught fish with a water temperature of 26^oC (79^oF)! In my opinion habits may vary between rivers; the trout is known to easily adapt to the environment of the rivers it lives in.

The trout has a thin body covered in small scales, and a big mouth armed with little teeth that can be found even on its tongue! It is very difficult to pinpoint the exact colourings of this fish. Its diet, the biology of the river and the depth of the water, make the trout change its colour to adapt and blend in seamlessly with its living environment.

The trout can grow longer than a metre (three feet) long, and it can weigh up to ten kilos (22 pounds)! Obviously, for it to reach such dimensions, it requires the appropriate environment and a great deal of luck in avoiding fishermen while it's still growing.

The trout is a carnivorous fish; at a young age it feeds exclusively on the insect larvae it finds in the water and the insects it captures from its surface. As it grow it diversifies its diet adding various shellfish, frogs and small fish (even its own kind); but insects remain its main staple. A fish's diet is significant to the fisherman and it constitutes essential knowledge of the trade.

Reproduction

The trout is a migrating (anadromous) fish that swims upstream and reaches the river's source to lay its eggs in the very same place it also was hatched.

This migration usually begins in autumn, and its breeding period is in the winter.

I would like to make a particular note of the fact that there is a law in Greece prohibiting the fishing of trout during its breeding period, from the 1^st of November until the 15^th of December.

During its migration, the trout puts forth immense effort to reach its goal, climbing small waterfalls and jumping over small barriers!

Once it has reached its destination, the female finds a shallow stream where it digs a small trench in the gravel and deposits its eggs inside.

The placement of the eggs by the female, and the insemination by the male, takes place at night. They say that the female trout lays two thousand eggs for every kilo (three pounds) of its weight.

If the river's water has a steady flow and level, then it has been calculated that the eggs will hatch within thirty or forty days of being laid.

Once it has reproduced, and the water's temperature starts to rise again, the trout makes its way downstream towards rivers and lakes in search of deeper and cooler water.

Habitat

As it has already been mentioned, the trout lives in clean, cold and highly oxygenated water. Ideal locales to find the trout are flowing mountain brooks, rivers and lakes with water of a similar quality. Once their breeding season is over, trouts become parochial fish and lie in ambush in locations with quieter waters that swirl and churn and bring them food.

Such ideal spots are large rapids, especially the beginning of the rapid, and near large stones. They will sit behind them and decimate all living creatures that pass next to them or above them.

Brown trout (salmo trutta "fario")

There are two types of trout found in Greece, the so called fario or brown trout and the rainbow. The brown trout has been living Greece's rivers for thousands of years, and its colouring usually includes red and black spots, even though that is not always the case and is subject to change from river to river.

The rainbow trout is imported and comes from America. It was brought to Greece for breeding and dietary purposes. The main reason for its import was because its rate of growth is much faster than that of the local variety. In a very short amount of time the rainbow trout managed to acclimatise itself to the environment of the Greek rivers, just like the fario. Many rainbow trout regained their freedom from fish-farms, whereas others were released into the wild as part of enrichment programs. The American trout is much more voracious and less discriminating than the native Greek trout, and as a result it's easier to fish. It's easily distinguished from the local fario by its colouring, it has a florescent reddish line down both its sides.

Was published in the magazine"Ψαρεύω". (August 2009)