The tiger trout... is a sterile, intergeneric hybrid of the brown trout (Salmo trutta) and the brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). The name derives from the pronounced vermiculations, evoking the stripes of a tiger. It is an anomaly in the wild, with the brook trout having 84 chromosomes and the brown trout 80. Records show instances as far back as 1944. The cross itself is unusual in that the parents are members of different genera...
Tiger trout can be produced reliably in hatcheries. This is done by fertilizing brown trout eggs with brook trout milt and heat shocking them, which causes creation of an extra set of chromosomes and increases survival from 5% to 85%...
Tiger trout are known to be highly piscivorous (fish-eating), and are a good control against rough fish populations...Their own population numbers can be tightly controlled as well, since they are sterile.
Tiger trout can be produced reliably in hatcheries. This is done by fertilizing brown trout eggs with brook trout milt and heat shocking them, which causes creation of an extra set of chromosomes and increases survival from 5% to 85%...
Tiger trout are known to be highly piscivorous (fish-eating), and are a good control against rough fish populations...Their own population numbers can be tightly controlled as well, since they are sterile.
Sterile, yes, they are now, but one must remember this cautionary statement:
I have never heard of the Tiger Trout. Where are they (so I can catch one)?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.utahfishinginfo.com/utahfish/tigertrout.php Closer than I thought.
DeleteBrighid, LL and I will meet you in Redding, and then we can be off to catch the elusive Tiger Trout!
DeleteWe used to use high pressures at the right time after fertilization to get similar style results. To the tune of the eggs being pressurized to 50Kpsi. We were doing rainbow work at that time. No telling what Mark's gotten into since then.
ReplyDeleteCW, I'm in Red Bluff, so even closer, swing by and we are on it!
ReplyDeleteWhen ever I hear scientist saying, it can't happen because... I always look at my husband and say "It's not nice to fool with mother nature, she bites."
ReplyDelete