char: see salmon.

Colomb-Béchar: see Béchar, Algeria.

Char, René, 1907-88, French poet. His writing reflects both his Provençal origins and his years of active participation in the French resistance. At first attracted to surrealism, Char soon went his own way, constructing a verse marked by extreme stylistic economy. His poems and aphorisms express an effort to endow language with an authenticity lost in its everyday use.

Béchar, formerly Colomb-Béchar, town (1998 pop. 131,010), capital of Béchar prov., W Algeria. It is an important administrative center in a mining (coal, copper, magnesium, iron) and industrial region. Béchar also serves as a major shipping point for coal. It is noted for its jewelry and leatherwork. The town was established in 1905 as a French military post to control the then-turbulent Algerian-Moroccan border.

Any of several freshwater food and game fishes (genus Salvelinus) of the salmon family, distinguished from the similar trout by light, rather than black, spots; by a boat-shaped, rather than flat, vomer (bone) on the roof of the mouth; and by having teeth on the front of the vomer rather than on the shaft. Char often have smaller scales than their relatives. The Arctic char, of North America and Europe, inhabits the Arctic and adjacent oceans and enters rivers and lakes to breed. It may weigh 15 lbs (7 kg) or more. The brook trout, Dolly Varden trout, and lake trout are native North American char.

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