Common taimen facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Common taimen |
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Hucho
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| Species: |
taimen
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The Siberian taimen (Hucho taimen) is a really big fish. People also call it the common taimen, Siberian giant trout, or Siberian salmon. It's a type of fish that looks a bit like a salmon. It belongs to the Hucho group in the Salmonidae family, which includes salmon and trout. You can find these amazing fish in rivers across Siberia and nearby areas.
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Where the Taimen Lives and How It Behaves
The taimen lives in many rivers, stretching from the Volga in the west to the Amur River in the east. This huge area covers parts of Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China.
Taimen usually live in rivers where the water is always moving. You might sometimes find them in lakes, but only near where a river flows into the lake. Unlike some salmon, taimen don't travel to the ocean. However, they do move around more when it's time for them to lay their eggs. Some taimen have been tracked moving as far as 93 kilometers (about 58 miles) from their usual spot!
What the Taimen Looks Like
The color of a taimen can be a bit different depending on where it lives. But generally, its head is olive green, and its body turns reddish-brown towards its tail. Its fins are often dark red, and its belly can be white or dark gray.
The taimen is thought to be the biggest fish in the salmon family anywhere in the world! It can be heavier than the largest salmon found in North America. Most adult taimen that are caught weigh between 15 to 30 kilograms (about 33 to 66 pounds). They are usually about 70 to 120 centimeters (28 to 47 inches) long.
Some very large taimen have been reported. The longest one ever recorded was supposedly 210 centimeters (about 83 inches) long and weighed 105 kilograms (231 pounds). That's like a small person! Taimen can also live for a very long time, sometimes more than 55 years.
What the Taimen Eats
Adult taimen are mostly fish eaters. They love to hunt and eat other fish. But they also enjoy eating animals that live on land, like small rodents and birds, if they happen to fall into the water.
Fishing for Taimen
The taimen is becoming a very popular fish for people who love to fish, especially those who enjoy fly fishing. Many places now practice "catch-and-release" fishing. This means anglers catch the fish, take a picture, and then carefully let it go back into the water. They also use special hooks without barbs to make sure the fish isn't hurt. This helps to protect the taimen population, which is getting smaller.
Even though some taimen are caught for food, they grow slowly and don't have many babies. This makes them more valuable as a special fish for sport fishing.
Protecting the Taimen
The taimen is considered a "vulnerable" species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This means their numbers are going down, and they need our help.
Some of the things that threaten the taimen include:
- Changes to the land, like building sand and gravel mines.
- Water pollution from factories.
- Too much fishing, both legal and illegal.
- The effects of climate change, which can change their habitats.
Experts suggest that countries work together to protect this fish, especially since it travels across different areas.
Cool Stories About Taimen
- There's a legend in Mongolia about a giant taimen that got stuck in river ice. People who were starving during winter survived by cutting off pieces of its meat. But when spring came, the ice melted, and the giant taimen crawled onto land, found the herders, and ate them all!
- In China, some people believe a huge type of taimen lives in Kanas Lake. Villagers near the lake even claim to have found fish weighing over 4 tonnes (that's 8,800 pounds!).
- The famous National Geographic magazine once called the taimen the "Mongolian Terror Trout"!
