Ohrid trout

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Ohrid trout, Salmo letnica, also called the Lake Ohrid brown trout, is an endangered fish that lives only in Lake Ohrid and its connected waters—the Black Drin river—in North Macedonia and Albania. Locally, it is known as ohridska pastrmka in Macedonian and Korani in Albanian.

Taxonomically, the Ohrid trout is part of the brown trout complex. Its exact species status is debated, but most conservationists treat it as a distinct species for protection. Within Ohrid trout, researchers have described up to four forms that breed in different lake areas and at different times. Some sources classify these as separate species, but current data do not strongly support that division.

Lake Ohrid also hosts another endemic salmonid, Salmo ohridanus.

In cuisine, Ohrid trout is a local specialty used in soups and other dishes. It is described as tasting like a cross between brown trout and Atlantic salmon.

Conservation status is serious. Overfishing has driven the species toward extinction. North Macedonia banned fishing for Ohrid trout from 2004 to 2014. In Albania, fishing is prohibited only during the spawning period (since 2003), but populations continue to decline due to illegal and overfishing.

The Ohrid trout has been bred and released elsewhere, including Vlasina Lake in Serbia in the 1950s–60s; that population’s current status is unknown. It was also stocked in several U.S. lakes in the 1960s, with most introductions failing to establish lasting populations.