Salmo ischchan

< Rare and Endangered Animals of Armenia

Animal in Armenia

Իշխան (“Ishkhan”)

Status

It has four lacustrine ecological races: 1. ishchan (Kessler, 1877) 2. gegarkuni (Kessler, 1877) 3. danilewski (Jakowlew, 1888) 4. aestivalis (Fortunatov, 1927)

All four are included in the Red Book of the former Soviet Union.

Habitat in Armenia

Met in Sevan. Gegarkuni race acclimatized in Lake Issik Kul (Kyrgyzstan).

Number in the wild

Ishchan used to make 30% of all Salmo type. Now it is very rare and can be met only in single examples. Before the water decrease in Sevan the numbers of ishchan and gegarkuni were 1.7 and 1.6 million accordingly. These resources have rapidly decreased since starting from 1960’s.

Reasons for decrease in number

Destruction of reproduction conditions. Decrease of artificially raised species. Decrease of water level in Sevan.

Number in captivity

From the beginning of 1950’s gegarkuni and aestivalis types were artificially raised in fishing plants. The amount of aestivalis hard-roe decreased from 24 to 1.4 million units, for gegarkuni – from 65 to 10 million units.

Measures of protection taken

Catch is forbidden since 1976.