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BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary


Thymallus arcticus
Arctic Grayling

 
Scientific Name: Thymallus arcticus (Pallas, 1776)
English Name: Arctic Grayling
 
Classification / Taxonomy
Scientific Name - Concept Reference: Robins, C.R., R.M. Bailey, C.E. Bond, J.R. Brooker, E.A. Lachner, R.N. Lea, and W.B. Scott. 1991. Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States and Canada. American Fisheries Society, Special Publication 20. 183 pp.
Classification Level: Species
Species Group: Vertebrate Animal
Species Code: F-THAR
Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
Animalia Craniata Actinopterygii Salmoniformes Salmonidae
   
Conservation Status / Legal Designation
Global Status: G5 (Jun 2015)
Provincial Status: S4 (Jan 2004)
BC List: Yellow
Provincial FRPA list:   
Provincial Wildlife Act:
COSEWIC Status:
SARA Schedule:
General Status Canada: 4 - Secure (2005)
   
Ecology & Life History
General Description:
Global Reproduction Comments: Spawns usually in early spring (May-June). Male establishes a territory. Normally lays 400-12,500 eggs (Moyle 1976), which hatch in 11-21 days. Sexually mature in 3-4 years. Lifespan usually less than 6 years but up to 10 years (Brown 1971).
Global Ecology Comments: Predators probably include other fishes and predatory birds (osprey, gulls, eagles) and mammals (mink, otter).
Migration Characteristics:
(Global / Provincial)		 
    Nonmigrant:
    Local Migrant:
    Distant Migrant:
    Within Borders Migrant: 		N /
Y /
N /
na /
Global Migration Comments: Migrates up streams in early spring to spawn. Migrates downstream in fall.
Habitats:
(Type / Subtype / Dependence)
Global Habitat Comments: Open water of clear, cold (47-52 F) medium to large rivers and lakes. Adults move to pools after spawning, spend winter in deep water. Spawning takes place in creeks with gravel-bottomed riffles. Spawning in lakes is rare. Does not construct a redd. Lake populations can spawn in either inlet or outlet streams. At Deer Lake, Montana, most young apparently entered the lake from the outlet stream spawning area during the 6-7-month period of annual ice cover; a small proportion of the fry were lost over a downstream waterfall (Deleray and Kaya 1992). In contrast, young in populations that spawn in inlet streams generally enter lakes much sooner. The extended period of stream residence may be related to avoidance of predation by large conspecifics in Deer Lake (Deleray and Kaya 1992).
Food Habits: Invertivore: Adult, Immature
Piscivore: Adult, Immature
Global Food Habits Comments: Oportunistic. Fry feed mainly on zooplankton. Adults feed mainly on terrestrial and aquatic insects (larvae, pupae and adults); also crustaceans, snails, fish eggs, and small fish.
Global Phenology:
Provincial Phenology:
(1st half of month/
2nd half of month)
Colonial Breeder: N
Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): 38/ /
Elevation (m) (min / max): Global: 
Provincial: 
   
 
Distribution
Endemic: N
Global Range Comment: Holarctic. Northern Eurasia and North America. North America: widespread in Arctic drainages from Hudson Bay west to Alaska, and in Arctic and Pacific drainages south to central Alberta and British Columbia; upper Missouri River drainage, Montana. Formerly in rivers flowing into lakes Michigan, Huron, and Superior, northern Michigan (now extirpated). Introduced widely in western North America south to California, Arizona, and Nevada; locally common (Page and Burr 1991, Lee et al. 1980).
 
Authors / Contributors
Global Information Author: Hammerson, G.
Last Updated: Jan 30, 1997
Provincial Information Author:
Last Updated:
   
References and Related Literature
Arctic Grayling. 1999. B.C. Fish Facts. Conserv. Sect., Fish. Manage. Branch, B.C. Minist. Fish. 2pp.
Brown, C. J. D. 1971. Fishes of Montana. Big Sky Books, the Endowment and Research Foundation, Montana State University, Bozeman. MT. 207 pp.
Deleray, M. A., and C. M. Kaya. 1992. Lakeward and downstream movements of age-0 arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus) originating between a lake and a waterfall. Great Basin Naturalist 52:344-351.
Lee, D. S., C. R. Gilbert, C. H. Hocutt, R. E. Jenkins, D. E. McAllister, and J. R. Stauffer, Jr. 1980. Atlas of North American freshwater fishes. North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, Raleigh, North Carolina. i-x + 854 pp.
Morrow, J.E. 1980. The freshwater fishes of Alaska. Alaska Northwest Publishing Company, Anchorage, AK. 248 pp.
Moyle, P. B. 1976a. Inland fishes of California. University of California Press, Berkeley, California. 405 pp.
Nelson, J. S. 1984. Fishes of the world. Second edition. John Wiley & Sons, New York. xv + 523 pp.
Page, L. M., and B. M. Burr. 1991. A field guide to freshwater fishes: North America north of Mexico. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts. 432 pp.
Robins, C.R., R.M. Bailey, C.E. Bond, J.R. Brooker, E.A. Lachner, R.N. Lea, and W.B. Scott. 1991. Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States and Canada. American Fisheries Society, Special Publication 20. 183 pp.
Scott, W. B., and E. J. Crossman. 1973. Freshwater fishes of Canada. Fisheries Research Board of Canada, Bulletin 184. 966 pp.
Sigler, W. F., and R. R. Miller. 1963. Fishes of Utah. Utah State Department of Fish and Game, Salt Lake City, Utah, 203 pp.
Wydoski, R. S., and R. R. Whitney. 1979. Inland fishes of Washington. The University of Washington Press, Seattle. 220 pp.
 

Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.

Suggested Citation:

B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 1997. Species Summary: Thymallus arcticus. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed May 19, 2026).