Arctic char is a fish species known to occupy diverse habitats within the Arctic region. However, summer habitat use during the juvenile stage of the anadromous form is largely unknown. The present study aims to characterize fry and parr summer habitat preferences. Surveys were conducted by electrofishing, associated with physical habitat characterization on several rivers of the Ungava Bay, Nunavik, Canada. At the microhabitat and station scales, fry showed significant habitat preferences for shallow water and slow velocity. At the mesohabitat scale, fry showed a significant habitat selectivity for riffles. This habitat selectivity implies that habitat models can be built to evaluate the potential of habitat suitability for Arctic char fry. However, no significant habitat selectivity was found for parr. Parr size was nonetheless positively correlated with velocity, which was found to be a limitative factor for juvenile habitat use. This first attempt at modeling juvenile anadromous Arctic char habitat in rivers emphasizes the importance of selecting an appropriate spatial scale and reiterates the fact that parr showed relatively high plasticity in stream habitat selection.

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This study is a comprehensive documentation of anadromous Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) life history in Ungava Bay, Nunavik, Canada, through Inuit knowledge. Inuit experts shared their knowledge during semi-directed interviews and other occasions such as informal discussions and fieldwork. A contextualized synthesis of published western scientific literature is provided for the various life stages of Arctic char. The close year-round relationship Inuit have with Arctic char allows to set evidence of poorly described life history strategies in western literature and to reveal behaviours that, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, have not been documented so far. The connections and paralleling of Inuit knowledge and published studies about Arctic char informs western science with a more holistic understanding of Arctic char ecology. By bringing Inuit knowledge of Arctic char to the foreground, the present study highlights relevant research avenues for co-developed projects on Arctic char ecology.