Fishes

Fishes: what, how and where

Ayas offers many good chances of crowning your own ichthyic dream, or simply having a nice day. To avoid bad adventures, write to the "Consorzio Regionale per la Tutela, l'Incremento e l'Esercizio della Pesca" (District's Consortium for Guardianship, Increase and Practice of Fishing), Corso Lancieri 15D, 11100 Aosta Italy, tel. +39 0165 40752 asking for the Ichthyic Calendar. It contains all the rules to fish in Valley: documents and so on. There are a lot of laws! If you don't want to write, ask for it in AIATs and in the city halls. What kind of fishes can you find in Ayas? In my opinion (I'm not an expert in ichthyologist) there are two habitats: Evancon, which offers little and medium trouts, and the lakes which offers even big truits, and also "salmerini", which means chars.

More in details, Ayas' fishes are:

1. Salvelinus Fontinalis, Char: minimum measure cm. 22

2. Salvelinus Alpinus, Alpine Char: minimum measure cm. 22

3. Salmo Trutta Fario, Trout "Fario" minimum measure cm. 22

4. Oncorhyncus Mykiss, Trout "Iridea", minimum measure cm.20

5. Salmo Trutta Marmoratus, Trout "Marmorata", minimum measure cm. 35

6.Thymallus Thymallus, Grayling: minimum measure cm. 30

Salvelinus Fontinalis: it has been imported from North America. It has got the back, dorsal and ventral fin red and yellow; on the hips there are red spots, while the ventral and pectoral fins have white borders. This specie has adapted himself to our alpine lakes, and in theory it can arrive to 50 cm of lenght. I've seen the capture of a 45 cm - long one, so you can believe to the statistics!

Salvelinus Alpinus: it's an italian fish: its parents are dating back to the last glacial era; nowadays it has artificially carried in some alpine basins, with a great success. He prefers to stay in the deep waters, and its belly can become red during reproduction time, even if it's less visible. it can measure 50 cm.

Salmo Trutta Fario: a European specie, has got an excellent meat, and it's common in many lakes in Ayas. it has got a gray - dark green back, with bright hips. The Fario can reach three kilos of weight, but it gives a great entertainment even if they're little. It's a kind of predator who acts in the first hours of the morning, and at sunset. In the alpine lakes is introduced every year, because it reproduces itself only in rivers or torrents. finally, it can reach a meter of lenght.

Oncorhyncus Mykiss: this specie have been taken from North America. It has got a flat shape, if compared with the Fario, and has got a caudal fin covered by black spots; in reproduction time, it takes a pink band. It's less exigent than a Fario, for what regards riproduction sites, and I discovered that many exemplaries showed a lack of combativeness when they've biten. it can arrive to measure 50 cm.

Salmo Trutta Marmoratus: it's less frequent in Ayas, specially in the lakes I visited. It's a Fario subspecies, but it's relevant for its growing potential: even 10 kilos, and 130 cm of lenght! It hasn't got red dots, but it seems to have spots on the head. Briefly, it's often visible as a Fario hybrid, but it is the most often repopulated by local authorities.

Thymallus Thymallus: an easy recognizable specie, the grayling has got two dorsal fins, the first blak - dotted, and bigger than the other one. It needs bright and oxygenated waters, with some stream: it's a predator, and very sensible to water pollution. It's gray on the back, and light - pink on the hips, rarely goes over 40 cm of lenght and a kilogram of weight. I have never seen one in the Valley, however.