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Introduction
The Dolly Varden (Salvelinus malma) is a species of char native to northwestern North America and northeastern Asia.
The Dolly Varden has two subspecies:
Northern Dolly Varden found north of Aleut Peninsula in North America and north of Kamchatka Peninsula in Asia.
Southern Dolly Varden found south of Aleut Peninsula down to Puget Sound and south of Kamchatka Peninsula to northern Japan.
As with all chars, Dolly Varden is a cold water species.
The Dolly Varden and the bull trout (S. confluentus) have long been confused with each other, especially where their range overlaps. The Dolly Varden is also similar in appearance to the Arctic char (S. alpinus). The three species will hybridize with each other as well as with brook trout (S. fontinalis).
Challenges
The Dolly Varden is included Western Native Trout Challenge but only catches in Alaska qualify.
This article was authored by Kurt Zeilenga as part of our Western States Trout Species series.
Suggestions on how to improve this article may be sent to Kurt@TroutAdventures.org.
Additional Reading
Trout and Salmon of North America by Robert Behnke
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