In the Outdoors: No native trout

A look at the history and taxonomy of the Brook, Brown, and Rainbow trout

By Oak Duke, pictured is a Rainbow trout being gently released

     The Genesee River is full of trout…despite those fishless days we all disappointedly have had to learn how to deal after picking up the piscatorial pursuit with rod and reel.

     Yet strange as it may seem… there are no native trout now in the Genesee River, it’s tributaries or for that matter the entire Northeastern United States…

     A trout by any other name:

     Brook trout, now classified as Salvelinus fontinalis are indeed native, and have been here since the dinosaurs.

     But not now, as they are technically classified as a Char, according to taxonomists.

     Brookies are considered a member of the Char genus along with its cousins Lake trout, Arctic char, Dolly Varden, and others.

     So what about the ubiquitous Brown trout, our most common trout in the river?

     Brown trout (Salmo trutta,) is a true trout, but came to our waters from the Black Forest region of Western Germany, first introduced in 1883, when Fred Mather, a New York fisheries biologist imported 80,000 Brown trout eggs from the Rhineland, Baron Von Behr’s hatchery.

     The Brown trout is a European immigrant, coming from Germany and later from Scotland, as so many human immigrants took similar boat rides across the pond during the 18^th century.

     The Scottish strain of Brown trout (called Loch Leven) typically lacks the bright red spots of German browns and is named for its home waters, the river Leven in Scotland.

     Due to crossbreeding between the two strains of Brown trout (German and Loch Leven) a resultant merging of characteristics has naturally occurred, but as fishers we like to note when we catch a heavily red-spotted and colored-up Brownie as a “German” and one lacking any red or orange spots as a “Loch Leven.” But in truth, they are all a genetic mixture now. 

     Those first trout eggs took a cold, late winter, weeks-long successful trip across the North Atlantic after being carefully packed in moss-lined trays, bound to be the first Brown trout swimming in US waters.    

     After the Werra, the ice-encrusted steam ship docked in New York’s harbor, the eggs were distributed to three fish hatcheries; Cold Spring on Long Island, Caledonia in Western New York, and to Michigan.

     From those three hatcheries, the Brown trout thrived in the North American streams, replacing the dwindling Brook trout populations.

     The Brown trout is a hardier species than Brookies are, accepting higher water temperatures and able to deal with less oxygen.

     During the 19^th century, as forests in the Northeast were cleared, water temperatures in freestone streams increased and Brook trout found an increasingly more challenging environment.

     Today, Brookies still survive in small tributary streams that feed into the Genesee River in Pennsylvania and New York, and sporadically individuals occasionally wind up in the river.

     Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) are the third specie of trout we catch in the Genesee River. They are native to California, West coast streams, and eastern Russia.

     Rainbows as a specie are anadromous, or tend to run upriver from oceans and lakes to spawn during springtime, while Brown trout and Brook trout spawn in the fall.

     Rainbow trout evidence two traits, one to stay in a river environment (riverine) while others express the anadromous tendency to run to the sea or lakes.

     We have a common name for these latter types of Rainbow trout, the migratory Steelhead.

     Steelhead are similar to their cousins, salmon, swimming back up to their home steams to spawn.

     And that’s why those Rainbows we catch are grouped into the same genus with salmon… not trout now, after genetic studies indicated in 1989 that in fact they are actually closer to salmon. Ditto with the Western Cutthroat trout.

     Rainbow trout were first stocked, actually before Brown trout in the Eastern United States, being shipped from their home hatchery near San Francisco in 1875 to the Caledonia New York fish hatchery. Michigan received a shipment of Rainbow trout the following year, 1876 for stocking.

     Rainbow trout can be quickly identified by looking at their tails.

     Rainbow trout always have a spotted tail, whether anadromous, riverine, or lacustrine (lake dwelling) while Brown and Brook trout do not have spots on their tails.

     Rainbow trout, especially riverine type ‘bows, exhibit a wide red or bright pink lateral stripe. However, Steelhead are often quite silvery with the pink lateral stripe more muted.

     For more info on trout, the above-mentioned Caledonia Fish Hatchery, the oldest in New York State and billed as the oldest in the Western Hemisphere is located south of Rochester in Caledonia, 75 miles due north of Wellsville, open every day from 8am to 4 pm, every day, year ‘round.