Loch Laidon yields up creature from the deep... a new trout species
A new species of brown trout has been discovered in a Highland loch, suggesting biodiversity in Scotland’s lochs is much greater than originally thought.
The Profundal Benthivore was found in Loch Laidon, in Perthshire, by researchers at the rivers and lochs institute at Inverness College, University of the Highland and Islands.
It has never been reported in any other loch in the brown trout’s native range.
The trout has lighter skin and a bigger mouth and eyes than the common form and inhabits the deep part of the loch, where there is little light. The team carried out systematic sampling of the loch and used DNA analysis specifically designed to identify different genetic trout populations.
Professor Eric Verspoor director of the institute, found four genetically, ecologically and visually distinctive species which have evolved in the loch over the past 10,000 years.
Prof Verspoor also said the total number of forms found in Loch Laidon is the highest number found in a single lake.
“The study suggests the amount of biodiversity in Scotland’s lochs, and indeed many of the freshwater lakes in the northern hemisphere, has been massively underestimated.
“Few of our lochs have so far been studied with methods such as those we employed that are better able to resolve such diversity where it exists.”