As you might expect, ichthyologists have come up with a nomenclature all their own to describe the life cycle of trout. For example, the saucer-shaped bed the 100 – 500 eggs are laid, fertilized, and then buried for the winter is called a ‘redd’. Some 50 to 100 days later, the eggs hatch into tadpole-like larvae with large yolk bellies, known as ‘alevins’. When the yolk sac is absorbed, the young trout swim up from the redd, emerging in the water as ‘fry’ After several weeks, a series of dark vertical bands appear along the sides of the young trout and they are now referred to as ‘parr’. At this point, the fish guys apparently ran out of imagination, resorting to calling the juvenile and adult stages, well, juveniles and adults. Brook trout in Virginia reach sexual maturity at two years of age and an average length of 6.5 inches. The life span of this species is generally less than four years in this region, with most fish reaching about 9 to 12 inches by this time.