This member of the charr family was once classified as a separate species with the scientific name Salvelinus aureolus. A landlocked, or nonanadromous, charr, it was reclassified as a subspecies of the arctic charr (S. alpinus oquassa; see: Charr, Arctic), along with its close relatives the blueback trout and the Quebec red trout.
The common name is derived from a native population of Sunapee Lake in New Hampshire; Sunapee trout there hybridized with lake trout and are no longer believed to exist, and the species is not currently documented in that state. Sunapees do exist in Maine, where there is a remnant population in Flood’s Pond, and reintroductions have been made into some other waters.
