We had a biologist from ODFG give a dog and pony show on the Fish in the
Deschutes. He said there were two populations of Rainbows. Both the same
species of rainbow. One went to sea and one stayed in the river. The only
way thy could tell them apart was analyzing the layers in the otoliths ( ear
bones ). If the fish had been to sea it had a higer ratio of Strontium to
Calcium. That's looking pretty close.


"Bob Weinberger" wrote in message
...

"Willi" wrote in message
...



That site points to research indicating they can breed and produce
fertile offspring. Sounds like a single species to me. (All other
"scientific" reasons for declaring a new species are, IMO, grounded
only in the scientist's desire for recognition and/or career
advancement ;-)


Question for you West coast guys.

Do Redside Rainbows and Steelhead share any watersheds?

If so do they interbreed?

Willi


The Deschutes is famous for both Redsides and Steelhead. To my knowledge,
they are genetically indistinguishable. Some Steelhead fingerlings never
go
to sea and become resident Redsides and some Redsides go to sea and become
Steelhead. Several other rivers in the vicinity have the same situation.
The reason some rainbows exhibit anadromy, while others in the same system
do not, is a mystery to fish biologists. The Steelhead in the coastal
streams are derived from a different strain of rainbow than the Redsides
of
the interior streams. In most coastal streams virtually all the rainbows
become Steelhead. The resident fish in these streams are cutthroat, though
some of the cuttthroat also exhibit a degree of anadromy - going to the
near
shore salt for periods of 3-6mos. and returning as Searun Cutts of 13-18".
Inch for inch they are better fighters than steelhead.


--
Bob Weinberger
La, Grande, OR

place a dot between bobs and stuff and remove invalid to send email