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There are five species in the genus Hucho, and all are native exclusively to Asia with the exception of Hucho hucho, the Huchen trout or the Danube salmon, and Hucho taimen the taimen. Hucho taimen is extinct from Europe and now only lives in Mongolia and Russia. Hucho bleekeri the Sichuan taimen , Hucho ishikawae the Korean taimen and Hucho perryi the Sakhalin taimen or the Sea-run taimen live throughout Asia to Japan.

The taimen is distributed from the Volga and Pechora River basins east to the Yana River in the north and that of the Amur River in the south. On a larger scale, this includes parts of the Caspian and Arctic drainages in Eurasia and portions of the Pacific drainage in Mongolia and Russia (the Amur River). In Mongolia the taimen is found in both the Arctic and Pacific drainages, specifically the Yenisei/Selenga, the Lena, and the Amur River Basins. The taimen lives in flowing water and is only occasionally found in lakes, usually near the mouth of a tributary. The taimen is not anadromous, but does show increased movement rates during the spawning season. The average home range size of taimen in the Eg-Uur River of Mongolia is 23[1] Some authors consider the taimen to be a subspecies of the Huchen, i.e. Hucho hucho taimen.

This is the fourth story in a continuing series on the Megafishes Project. Join National Geographic News on the trail with project leader Zeb Hogan as he tracks down the world's largest freshwater fishes. Hucho taimen may be known to the Chinese as the river god's daughter, but in this remote corner of northern Mongolia, the world's largest trout has long been king (see photo gallery and video).

Authors: Mohammad Mahdi Motazacker, Benjamin Rainer Rost, Tim Hucho, Masoud Garshasbi, Kimia Kahrizi, Reinhard Ullmann, Seyedeh Sedigheh Abedini, Sahar Esmaeeli Nieh, Saeid Hosseini Amini, Chandan Goswami, Andreas Tzschach, Lars Riff Jensen, Dietmar Schmitz, Hans Hilger Ropers, Hossein Najmabadi, Andreas Walter Kuss