Image: USFWS Fish and Marine Preservation/Flickr
Matthew L. Miller penned a terrific story about the current discovery of a “brand-new” subspecies of redband rainbow trout in Idaho over in Fly Fisherman Magazine While I extremely motivate you to check out Miller’s account, the highlights are as follows.
A lot of folks who fish in Idaho’s Big Wood River presume that the rainbow trout they’re capturing are descendants of hatchery fish. The Big Wood River streams through south-central Idaho, coming off the south slope of the Sawtooth Mountains through Ketchum, ending its 137-mile perform at a confluence with the Malad River. The Malad, in turn, is a tributary to the Snake River.
According to Miller, the majority of biologists and anglers presumed the wild rainbow trout in the Big Wood River were the loved ones of hatchery fish from early in the 20th century. Nevertheless, brand-new research study recommends that the rainbow trout in the Big Wood are, in reality, a native subspecies of redband rainbow trout.
As Miller composes, “Steelhead are rainbow trout that move to the ocean and back, whereas the term ‘redband’ usually uses to rainbow trout that stay homeowners in streams. In Idaho, all rainbow trout ( Oncorhynchus mykiss) share comparable genes, what is typically called the ‘interior redband’ family tree. A lot of hatchery fish trace their origins to California and the Pacific Northwest, which is another family tree, called the ‘seaside rainbow.'”
So, not just are the redbands in the Big Wood belonging to the drain, however they’re even more improved our understanding of trout genes in among the last bastions of wild trout environment worldwide.
You can check out the rest of Miller’s story here.
