Brown trout
Salmo trutta Linnaeus, 1758
The brown trout (Salmo trutta) is a bony fish in the family Salmonidae and subfamily Salmoninae, within the order Salmoniformes. Its scientific name, Salmo trutta, was given by Linnaeus, 1758, and it belongs to the genus Salmo in the class Teleostei.
Quick facts about the brown trout
Other English names for the brown trout include Trout, Brownie, Sea trout, Lake trout and River trout. On the IUCN Red List, the brown trout is assessed globally as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category.
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Diet
- Carnivoresrc for Diet
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- freshwatersrc for Habitat
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Migration
- Migratorysrc for Migration
- Conservation status
- Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Photos of the brown trout
Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.
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Where does the brown trout live?
Not recorded
What is the brown trout?
The brown trout (Salmo trutta) is a species of carnivorous ray-finned fish and the most widely distributed species of the salmonid genus Salmo, endemic to most of Europe, West Asia and parts of North Africa, and has been widely introduced globally as a game fish, even becoming one of the world's worst invasive species outside of its native range.
Brown trout are highly adaptable and have evolved numerous ecotypes/subspecies. These include three main ecotypes: a riverine ecotype S. trutta morpha fario, commonly called river trout; a lacustrine ecotype S. trutta morpha lacustris, also called the lake trout (not to be confused with the lake trout in North America, which is a species of char); and an euryhaline ecotype S. trutta morpha trutta, also known as the sea trout. Sea trout in Ireland and Great Britain have many regional names: sewin in Wales, finnock in Scotland, peal in the West Country, mort in North West England, and white trout in Ireland.
Like all salmonids, all three brown trout ecotypes spawn in fresh water among the gravel beds of headstreams, where the water is colder and better aerated. Sea trout is anadromous, meaning it will spend the juvenile life stages in freshwater, but upon reaching adulthood will migrate downstream to the oceans for much of its life, and only returns to fresh water for reproduction. In contrast, the lacustrine and riverine morphs are both potamodromous, meaning they are also migratory but only between different freshwater bodies. Lacustrine trout mainly inhabit large lakes with calm and stratified deep water, while riverine trout forms fluvial populations typically in large rivers but sometimes in shallower creeks and alpine streams, both still migrating upstream during reproductive seasons. Anadromous and potamodromous morphs coexisting in the same river appear genetically identical. What determines whether they migrate to sea or not remains unknown.
From the Wikipedia article “Brown trout” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brown_trout&oldid=1384378973), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the brown trout endangered?
The brown trout is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.
How is the brown trout classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classTeleostei
- orderSalmoniformes
- familySalmonidae
- genusSalmo
- SpeciesSalmo trutta Linnaeus, 1758
Synonyms Fario argenteus, Fario lacustris, Fario trutta, Salar ausonii, Salar ausonii parcepunctata, Salar ausonii semipunctata, Salar ausonii var. parcepunctata, Salar ausonii var. semipunctata, Salar bailloni, Salar gaimardi, Salar spectabilis, Salmo albus, Salmo albus, Salmo ausonii, Salmo brachypoma, Salmo caecifer, Salmo cambricus, Salmo cornubiensis, Salmo cumberland, Salmo eriox, Salmo estuarius, Salmo fario, Salmo fario loensis, Salmo fario major, Salmo fario var. forestensis, Salmo fario var. loensis, Salmo faris, Salmo faris forestensis, Salmo faris var. forestensis, Salmo gadoides, Salmo gallivensis, Salmo illanca, Salmo islayensis, Salmo lacustris, Salmo lacustris rhenana, Salmo lacustris romanovi, Salmo lacustris septentrionalis, Salmo lacustris var. rhenana, Salmo lacustris var. septentrionalis, Salmo lemanus, Salmo levenensis, Salmo mistops, Salmo montana, Salmo orcadensis, Salmo orientalis, Salmo oxianus, Salmo phinoc, Salmo polyosteus, Salmo rappii, Salmo salvelinus var. albus, Salmo saxatilis, Salmo spurius, Salmo stroemii, Salmo sylvaticus, Salmo taurinus, Salmo trutta aralensis, Salmo trutta f. fario, Salmo trutta f. lacustris, Salmo trutta fario, Salmo trutta lacustris, Salmo trutta oxianus, Salmo trutta trutta, Salmo truttula, Salmo vario, Salmo venernensis, Trutta fario, Trutta fluvialis, Trutta fluviatilis, Trutta lacustris, Trutta marina, Trutta marina, Trutta salmanata, Trutta salmonata, Trutta trutta, Trutta variabilis
Other names and names in other languages (121)
- Brown/sea troutEnglish
- BrownieEnglish
- German brownEnglish
- Lake troutEnglish
- Loch Leven troutEnglish
- River troutEnglish
- Salmon troutEnglish
- Sea troutEnglish
- Sea troutEnglish
- Spotted troutEnglish
- TroutEnglish
- BruinforelAfrikaans
- Truita comúnAragonese
- KumjaAzerbaijani
- КумжаBelarusian
- gleis i addBreton
- Truita comunaCatalan
- pstruh obecnýCzech
- LasfórKashubian
- sewinWelsh
- brithyllWelsh
- BrithyllodWelsh
- siwinWelsh
- havørredDanish
- Almindelig ørredDanish
- BækørredDanish
- ØrredDanish
- ørred (bækørred, havørred & søørred)Danish
- SøørredDanish
- ForelleGerman
- Atlantische ForelleGerman
- BachforelleGerman
- MeerforelleGerman
- SeeforelleGerman
- Καστανή πέστροφαGreek
- trucha comunSpanish
- trucha comúnSpanish
- trucha marinaSpanish
- Trucha marrónSpanish
- MeriforellEstonian
- Amuarrain arruntBasque
- meritaimenFinnish
- taimenFinnish
- sílFaroese
- truite bruneFrench
- traite de lacFrench
- Truite à grosses tachesFrench
- Truite communeFrench
- Truite commune européenneFrench
- Truite de lacFrench
- truite de merFrench
- truite de rivièreFrench
- Truite farioFrench
- breac gealIrish
- bricScottish Gaelic
- breacScottish Gaelic
- Troita comúnGalician
- Potočna pastrvaCroatian
- sebes pisztrángHungarian
- urriðiIcelandic
- salmo trotaItalian
- Trota atlanticaItalian
- trotta farioItalian
- ブラウントラウトJapanese
- 브라운송어Korean
- FrellLuxembourgish
- šlakisLithuanian
- UpėtakisLithuanian
- TaimiņšLatvian
- Речна пастрмкаMacedonian
- TruitaMirandese
- ørretNorwegian Bokmål
- bekkeørretNorwegian Bokmål
- blekeNorwegian Bokmål
- kjøeNorwegian Bokmål
- krædeNorwegian Bokmål
- forelDutch
- Atlantische forelDutch
- beekforelDutch
- meerforelDutch
- schotjeDutch
- schotzalmDutch
- zeeforelDutch
- aureNorwegian Nynorsk
- bekkeaureNorwegian Nynorsk
- bleikeNorwegian Nynorsk
- byrtingNorwegian Nynorsk
- kluddNorwegian Nynorsk
- sjøblankeNorwegian Nynorsk
- strendingNorwegian Nynorsk
- sjøaureNorwegian
- sjøørretNorwegian
- trocPolish
- pstrąg potokowyPolish
- troćPolish
- truta mariscaPortuguese
- TrutaPortuguese
- Truta-comumPortuguese
- Truta-mariscaPortuguese
- TruchaQuechua
- kumzhaRussian
- форель ручьеваяRussian
- taimen'Russian
- guvžáNorthern Sami
- dápmotNorthern Sami
- pstruh hnedýSlovak
- Morska postrvSlovenian
- potočna postrvSlovenian
- TroftëAlbanian
- trofta e murmeAlbanian
- potočna pastrmkaSerbian
- Поточна пастрмкаSerbian
- TrotaSardinian
- öringSwedish
- laxöringSwedish
- Инеш керкәсеTatar
- alabalıkTurkish
- DenizalasıTurkish
- Форель струмковаUkrainian
- Пструг струмковийUkrainian
- 鱒Chinese
Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistITISTAXREFWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List
Relatives of the brown trout
Other species in the same genus Salmo.
Atlantic salmon
Salmo salar
Sevan trout
Salmo ischchan
Marble trout
Salmo marmoratus
Ohrid trout
Salmo letnica
Adriatic trout
Salmo obtusirostris
Black sea trout
Salmo labrax
CompareBrown trout vs Atlantic salmonBrown trout vs Sevan troutBrown trout vs Marble troutBrown trout vs Ohrid trout
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the brown trout?
The brown trout is a fish, specifically a bony fish in the family Salmonidae.
What is the scientific name of the brown trout?
The scientific name of the brown trout is Salmo trutta, placing it in the genus Salmo.
Who named the brown trout?
The brown trout was named by Linnaeus, 1758.
Is the brown trout endangered?
No. The brown trout is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List in its global assessment, which is not a threatened category.
What other names does the brown trout have?
Other English names for the brown trout are Trout, Brownie, Sea trout, Lake trout and River trout.
What family does the brown trout belong to?
The brown trout belongs to the family Salmonidae, subfamily Salmoninae, in the order Salmoniformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
Embed a card for this animal on your own site
Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.
CreatureData. (2026). Brown trout (Salmo trutta). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/brown-trout
“Brown trout (Salmo trutta).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/brown-trout.
@misc{brown_trout_2026,
title = {Brown trout (Salmo trutta)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/brown-trout},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}