Interesting Markings On This Trout

[jamieof]

Check out the difference in the middle and bottom trout in the picture below. I've seen the colour pattern on the tail of the bottom trout before, but never seen one with the abundance of dark spots. These were caught within minutes of each other in the same place on the pond.

Is the bottom trout some sort of hybrid?

Thanks.

Jamie

 

[kglissmeyer1]

I'm no expert, (Len, wade in on this one...) but if you take the top one (brown trout) and cross it with the middle one (brook trout) you get the bottom one, a tiger trout. And yes, it is a hybrid.

Kelly.

 

[jamieof]

I'm no expert, (Len, wade in on this one...) but if you take the top one (brown trout) and cross it with the middle one (brook trout) you get the bottom one, a tiger trout. And yes, it is a hybrid.

Kelly.

OK, thanks Kelly.

I seem to remember somewhere that the results of a breed between Brown and Brook trout are sterile. Is that true, do you know?

Jamie.

 

[sandfly]

I would like to see a better picture before saying it is a tiger, markings are hard to see. A tiger is Sterile and cannot multiply. Might be a tiger if from a hatchery.

 

[kglissmeyer1]

Most 'Hybrid' species are sterile according to the biologists, but sometimes I think that "nature will somehow find a way...". I have some interesting examples in my favorite spring creek that look a bit like tigers, but they lack the fin markings of brookies prominent on the tigers and there are no brook trout in this area.

Here are some examples:

And this one looks more like a bull trout than a brown trout, yet there are no bull trout in this drainage:

Go figure. But it sure is fun to catch them.

Kelly.

---------- Post added at 11:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:18 AM ----------

I would like to see a better picture before saying it is a tiger, markings are hard to see. A tiger is Sterile and cannot multiply. Might be a tiger if from a hatchery.

Browns and brookies do interbreed in the wild and produce wild tiger trout, so they aren't always from a hatchery, but it's not very common.

Kelly.

 

[sandfly]

You caught this fish in a pond right. Is the pond stocked or natural reproduction. Tigers should have the fins of brookies and tiger like markings on their sides. Both middle and bottom fish are brookies stocked. The other pic's are definitly brown trout, just different spots depending what origin they are from (europe, england, german, etc. ) never did say they are only from hatcheries. You must have a female brown and a male brook and then there might be a slim chance of a tiger. Been studying them and fishing for tigers for years now.

 

[jamieof]

You caught this fish in a pond right. Is the pond stocked or natural reproduction. >>>>SNIP

Yes, these were caught in a pond that I believe to be landlocked, but can't say how long the "natural dam" at the outlet has been there.

I highly doubt it's been stocked at any point in the past. There are too many ponds around here that have trout for someone to worry about stocking a "dead" pond. (See screen shot of a 6 Sq KM area below, with the pond where these were caught close to the lower right corner. I live just about directly north of that pond, about 1/7 KMs as the crow flies.)

I'm the only person I know of who seriously fishes there and as we say around here; "That place is maggoty with trout." As noted previously in other threads, my belief is that the fish are starving. Most by far of the ones that I've taken the time to disect the gut has been empty. As noted, I believe it to be landlocked so there's no travel in or out by fish, maybe it's own little ecosystem.

Jamie

 

[Ard]

I have a hard time trying to identify pictures of dead fish because they loose a lot of their color. The two similar trout look like brook trout. The difference in color is most likely caused by the tannin level in the water. Many ponds and streams in the north have a high tannic acid content and different individuals within a population react through pigmentation variances. When hybrids occur such as tiger trout there are other differences that identify them. These (differences) are not only color and markings but morphological (physical) that set them apart from the genetic sources that combined to form the hybrid.

In short, differences in Ph and the levels of certain organic compounds found within a food chain often result in outward displays of those conditions. In the case we are seeing here the display is color variation within a species / population.

 

[Didgeridoo]

Here's a pic of a tiger caught up here in MB. It's a male in non-spawning colour.

 

[Sasha]

It looks like dinner to me!