Appearance and Fertility of Trout Hybrids

Abstract

Mature hybrids among brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), brown trout (Salmo trutta), rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri), and lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) involving reciprocal crosses, backcrosses and three-way crosses were utilized to test fertility and to present photographic records of external charcteristics. Fertile hybrids found among the fish tested were splake (lake trout X brook trout) and the backcross progeny of splake X brook trout. Limited fertility was found in one “tiger” trout male (brown trout female X brook trout male) and in nine yearling males originating from crosses of rainbow trout females X brook trout males. These fertile individuals have been backcrossed to the parental species with limited results to date.