Overview
Hucho is a genus of large piscivorous salmonid fish known as taimens (from Finnish , 'trout', through ), and is closely related to Pacific trout and lenoks (all belonging to the same tribe in the subfamily Salmoninae). Native to the cold rivers and other freshwater habitats in Eurasia, they are threatened by overfishing and habitat loss. The earliest fossil remains of this genus are known from the Late Oligocene to middle Miocene of the Vitim Plateau in Russia. Younger remains are also known from the Late Miocene of Ukraine and the Late Pleistocene of Germany. Fossil specimens of a Hucho-like salmonid have been recovered from the Clarkia fossil beds and other localities from the late Neogene of western North America, suggesting they may have potentially inhabited North America too.
Species
The currently recognized species in this genus are: In addition, the Sakhalin taimen was formerly placed in this genus, but genetics and other evidence has shown that it belongs in its own monotypic genus as Parahucho perryi.
References
* The Eurasian Huchen, Hucho hucho: Largest Salmon of the World; By J. Holcík, K. Hensel, J. Nieslanik, L. Skácel *