Salvelinus malma

Salvelinus malma previously was considered a subspecies of S. alpinus by some authors but recently has been treated as a distinct species. Recent genetic work indicates that Salvelinus malma may not warrant species status. Brunner et al. (2001) examined phylogeography of the Salvelinus alpinus complex using mtDNA sequences. They assigned the 63 observed haplotypes to five geographic groups that may correspond with different glacial refugia. Patterns of genetic variation did not entirely reflect the magnitude of phenotypic and ecological polymorphism in the Salvelinus alpinus complex, and not all taxa suggested by current taxonomy could be confirmed. The Beringean group, formed entirely by specimens assigned to Salvelinus malma (Dolly Varden), encompassed the area formerly assigned to S. a. taranetzi; the Beringean group could not be confirmed as the sister taxon to all other Salvelinus alpinus, and the species status of Salvelinus malma was regarded as questionable.

Salvelinus confluentus was long confused with look-alike Salvelinus malma (Dolly Varden), especially where the ranges overlap on the Pacific slope (Lee et al. 1980). McPhail (1961, J. Fish. Res. Board Canada 18:793-814) regarded S. confluentus as conspecific with S. malma. Cavender (1978, California Fish & Game 64:139-174) demonstrated the specific distinctiveness of S. confluentus, but hybridization and some introgression occur across a broad area of contact.

Redenbach and Taylor (2002) identified two major Dolly Varden mtDNA clades. Clade N is distributed across much of the species' range from southern British Columbia to the Kuril Islands in Asia. Clade S extends from Washington to the middle of Vancouver Island. This suggests that Dolly Varden survived the Wisconsinan glaciation in a previously unsuspected refuge south of the ice sheet and that Dolly Varden and bull trout probably were in continuous contact over most of the last 100,000 years. Molecular data (e.g., lack of mtDNA monophyly in contrast with reciprocal monophyly based on rRNA) indicate that historical introgression of bull trout mtDNA into Dolly Varden occurred sometime prior to the most recent glaciation (Redenbach and Taylor 2002).

Salvelinus malma includes S. anaktuvukensis, which was described as a distinct species by Morrow (1973) but was included in Salvelinus malma in the 1980 and 1991 AFS checklists (Robins et al. 1980, 1991). Page and Burr (1991) recognized anaktuvukensisas specifically distinct from Salvelinus malma.

Sea of Japan and Kuril Islands, across Aleutian chain to Alaska, north in Chukchi and Beaufort seas and south along North American Pacific coast to Puget Sound drainages, Washington, including islands off both Alaska and British Columbia where the bull trout does not occur. In Alaska, known from as far west as St. Matthew Island. Status north of the Seward Peninsula in Alaska is uncertain (Haas and McPhail 1991). A record from the McCloud River drainage, California, based on badly disintegrated specimens, probably pertains to the bull trout (the population is extirpated) (Hass and McPhail 1991). See Haas and McPhail (1991) for a fairly detailed map of Dolly Varden and bull trout distribution in North America. Common (Lee et al. 1980, Page and Burr 1991).

This species is represented by a large number of subpopulations and locations.

According to Keith Boggs, Vegetation Ecologist/Program Manager, Alaska Natural Heritage Program (pers. comm., 2000), Steve Zempke (fish biologist at the Chugach National Forest) and Mike Kelly (UAA) both believe there were no threats to Dolly Varden in Alaska. It is harvested by sport fishermen but is not a desired fish, and it is not a targeted species for the commercial fisheries. Habitat disturbance (logging, grazing, damming) is also minimal. There are a few metapopulations that have 'catch and release' restrictions applied to them by the Fish and Game, but these are on heavily fished rivers. Consequently, from a species and population perspective in Alaska, Dolly Varden is ranked as S5.