Black rainbow trout

[MikieFinn]

Fish abd Boat comission just stocked a local lake with rainbows (they were supposed to be brookies but I'm not gonna complain).

The fish are quite finicky for hatchery trout and as one of ther guys put it we are catching them but we are not breaking any records.

Anyway all of the fish we caught so far are nearly black in color. I mean they are dark enough that you might have problems seeing the spots on the upper part. The rainbow is dark also but it varies from fish to fish. Compared to the rainbows from this spring which were so silvery bright that you had problems seeing the rainbow stripe this has me wondering...

Is such a big color variation natural? Is it maybe from a diet? - Meat has the normal color.

Any one has any ideas? I will try to snap some pics next Thursday if I manage to land any...

[Arkriver]

Over the yrs., I have caught rainbows with a lot of different colors. I assumed, that it was due to the food source, but I suppose there can be differences in the blood lines and brood stock. Probably need to ask a fisheries biologist to know for sure

[Wild One]

Same story here. Caught some that were very bright, some really dark, some really green. Not sure why though.

It does seem that most of the stocker trout I've seen tend to have a really dark back and the wild ones are more greenish.

[PaGuy]

season can have somthing to do with it also, In alaska during the fall the some of the rainbows start to darken up and a few get pretty black for the winter. Dont know why.

[Lunker]

When I get little rainbows from the hatchery they are almost completely black. The man from the hatchery told me that it was because they were in a closed tank with no light was why they were black.

[Humber Brad]

When I get little rainbows from the hatchery they are almost completely black. The man from the hatchery told me that it was because they were in a closed tank with no light was why they were black.

I can vouch that this holds true for Atlantic Salmon. We catch brood stock in the fall that are placed in green-bottomed holding tanks. By the time they are released, they are nearly perfectly green! They tend to blend into their surroundings. We actually had a blind salmon one year (we didn't realize it until after we had it back to the hatchery) and it was nearly all black, beacuse it had no visual cues as to what colour it should be. Just one more reason to marvel at these fish and their adaptive abilities, IMHO.

[Panman]

I fish a very small creek, average width is 18 inches, but it is relatively deep, 3 ft in spots. It is overgrown with grass and houses both brooks and bows. Both species from this creek tend to see little direct sunlight and are very dark in comparison to the more normal colored trout. This tends to support Lunker's comments.

Tim

PS: Do an advanced Google search, subject: Fish coloration. This might prove helpful.

[Bamboozle]

When I get little rainbows from the hatchery they are almost completely black. The man from the hatchery told me that it was because they were in a closed tank with no light was why they were black.

I'm glad someone mentioned this because once when I was talking to the late Charles K. Fox, I swear he mentioned something about black hatchery trout being blind or something to that effect.

It was a long time ago...

[jjtroutbum]

Don't know these fish but one reason I do know that trout get really dark on top is crowded runs with no shade.

ie. sun burn/ they end up with a Tan.

jj

[MikieFinn]

These trout are dwafilnitely not blind. I had a supper on Friday top prove it!!!.