What is Dolly Varden?
[[File:Dolly Varden Salvelinus malma 1957.jpg|thumb|right|300px|{{Center|Dolly Varden}}]] The '''Dolly Varden''' (''Salvelinus malma'') is a [[species]] of [[salmonid]]. It is [[Indigenous (ecology)|native]] to cold-water [[tributaries]] of the [[Pacific Ocean]] in [[Asia]] and [[North America]]. In the past it has been [[Error|mistaken]] for a species of [[trout]]. Dolly Varden are in the [[genus]] ''[[Salvelinus]]'' of true chars. They are covered with light [[:wikt:spot|spots]] on a dark [[:wikt:background|background]] (trout have dark spots on a light background).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=dollyvarden.main |title=Dolly Varden (Salvelinus malma) |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=2014 |website= |publisher=Alaska Department of Fish and Game |accessdate=18 May 2014 }}</ref> They may either be [[landlocked]] or [[anadromous]] (meaning they [[migrate]] to the [[sea]]).<ref>Joseph S. Nelson; Martin Joseph Paetz ''The Fishes of Alberta'' (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press; Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 1992), p. 285</ref> The coloring depends on their [[environment]]. Those that travel to the sea (anadromous) are dark [[blue]] on the [[head]], [[:wikt:back|back]] and upper sides.<ref name=fishBC>{{cite web |url=http://gofishbc.com/documents/pdf/fish-facts/Dolly_Varden.pdf |title=B. C. Fish Facts: Dolly Varden |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=n.d. |website= |publisher=British Columbia, Ministry of Fisheries |accessdate=18 May 2014 }}{{Dead link|date=January 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> [[Freshwater]] (or landlocked) Dolly Varden are [[brown]] to [[green|olive green]] on the head, back and upper sides.<ref name=fishBC/> The belly is light colored.<ref name=fishBC/> They feed on [[aquatic]] [[insects]], other [[fish]] and their [[Egg (biology)|eggs]].<ref name=fishBC/> == Origin of the name == Dolly Varden was the name of a [[fictional character]] in an 1841 [[Charles Dickens]] [[novel]].<ref name=Behnke>Robert