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Soča trout

Freshwater fish species

If you watch the emerald river long enough and carefully enough, you might quickly catch a glimpse of the elusive shape of the Soča trout darting past your eyes.

Soča trout (Salmo (trutta) marmoratus)

Size	up to 70 cm
Weight	up to 25 kg
Diet	other fish, vegetation, plankton, insects...
Habitat	Adriatic basin; Soča, Reka, Rižana

Kingdom	Animalia
Phylum	Chordata
Class	Actinopterygii
Order	Salmoniformes
Family	Salmonidae
Genus	Salmo
Species	Soča trout

The Soča trout is a freshwater fish species that lives in the Soča River and its affluents, as well as in the Adriatic basin. In Slovenia, it inhabits the Soča along with its affluents, Reka and Rižana. It has a large head and a characteristic marbled pattern, which can be dark gray, brown, olive green, copper-red, or even yellow-brown. Different types of marble trout may have varying numbers of red spots and flecks in the marbled pattern. It typically grows to a size between 50 and 70 centimeters.

To avoid being swept away by the fast current of the rapids, the Soča trout has a spindle-shaped and highly hydrodynamic body.

Trouts are predators. Adult fish feed on other fish and hunt in twilight, while juveniles consume vegetation, plankton, and insects.

They spawn from November to January on gravel riverbeds.

It is one of the most endangered species.

It is threatened by water pollution, the destruction of its natural habitat, and especially by hybridization with the brown trout, which was introduced into its environment in the early 20th century.

DO YOU KNOW?

The largest Soča trout measured 121 cm and weighed 25 kg.