Described from Lake Maloye (Norilo-Pyasinskaya lake-river system). The taxonomic status is not fully understood. In some reservoirs it forms morpho-ecological forms. e.g. “black palia” from Lama and Sobachye lakes, “short-rakered” char from lakes Khantaiskoye and Makovskoye, Yenisei drainage.

The number of salmonid taxa within some genera (e.g. Salmo, Salvelinus, and Coregonus) listed in various taxonomic databases (e.g. Fishbase or Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes) has increased very rapidly over the past 15-20 years. Many of these taxa are not widely accepted across the international community and are associated with very sparse data, leading to significant difficulty in accurately carrying out Red List assessments. The SSG strongly recommends a rigorous evaluation of the validity of these species designations, which can have real implications where legal protection is reflected by the use of these binomial taxonomic names.

Salvelinus drjagini is a species of charr endemic to the lakes of Taimyr Peninsula, the Putorana Plateau and the Lower Yenisei, Russia. Relative abundance indicators suggest that populations are small, but there is no information of the population trend and so more research is required. This species is locally fished but only within areas of its range that are accessible. This species is not thought to be facing major threats, and therefore is assessed as Least Concern.

Salvelinus drjagini is a species of charr that is endemic to the lakes of Taimyr Peninsula, the Putorana Plateau and the Lower Yenisei, Russia (Popov 2007). The lake form occurs on the left bank of the Lower Yenisei in the deep oligotrophic lakes of glacial origin - Makovskoye, Sovetskie lakes and Nalim, located at the latitude of the Arctic Circle in the upper reaches of river Turukhan (Popov 2007). This species occurs on the right bank of the Lower Yenisei, almost all more or less large oligotrophic lakes of glacial-tectonic origin located in the systems of the Lower Tunguska (Vivi, Tembenchi, Agata), Kureyka (Beldunchan, Dupkun) and Khantayka (Kutaramakan, Khantaiskoye and others) (Popov 2007). A char population from Lake Taimyr and Nizhnyaya Taimyra River is also assigned to this species (Popov 2007). It is found in the Pyasina river drainage: Norilo-Pyasinskaya lake system (type locality Lake Melkoye),o Lama, Keta, Glubokoye, Sobach'e, Kapchug, Gudke and Pyasino. According to local survey information, it may be also in some continental lakes of the Gydan Peninsula in the river Tanama drainage (Popov 2007).

Relative abundance indicators suggest that populations are small (Popov 2007). There is no information of the population trend of this species and so more research is required.

Salvelinus drjagini reaches a length of 104 cm, weight of 14 kg, and age of 24-26 years (Reshtnikov 2002). This species has lake-river, lake and semi-anadromous forms, of which the lake-river form prevails (Reshtnikov 2002). The growth of lake fish is slower than that of lake-river fish (Reshtnikov 2002). At the age of 14 it reaches a length of 94 cm, and mature in 7-12 years in Lama Lake and in 7-9 years in Taimyr Lake (Reshtnikov 2002).

In the lakes, this species makes feeding migrations in early summer and autumn, following the movements of whitefish. The rest of the time it stays in the depths (Reshtnikov 2002). From Lake Taimyr, some individuals go out into the river Lower Taimyr and further to the Taimyr Bay of the Kara Sea for feeding (Reshtnikov 2002).

This is an euryphagus species, eating fish, insects and gammarids (Reshtnikov 2002).

This species spawns in August-October in rivers with rapids, rolls, very deep (up to 5-7 m) pits, where the adults can also winter. In Keta Lake spawning is in spring, and in Lama Lake it is in July-August (Reshtnikov 2002). Fecundity ranges from 1,800 to 9,080 eggs; eggs are yellow and up to 5 mm in diameter.

There is practically no fishing, and so the abundance is determined primarily by natural causes (Popov 2007). In a number of lakes on the right bank of the Lower Yenisei and in Yakutia fishing is not conducted due to the inaccessibility of the lakes (Popov 2007). Reshetnikov (2002), however, states that in some water bodies the species is threatened by illegal overharvesting.

Salvelinus drjagini is a valuable object of local fishing (Reshetnikov 2002, Popov 2007). In a number of lakes on the right bank of the Lower Yenisei and in Yakutia fishing is not conducted due to the inaccessibility of the lakes (Popov 2007).

The range of this species is in part within the Taymyr Nature Reserve. In some remote areas there is probably no need for any conservation measures due to the inaccessibility preventing fishing by locals (Popov 2002). It is proposed to be overexploited in some areas of its range (Reshetnikov 2002), and so population research into trend and overall size is recommended.