Golden Rainbows

[Quillback]

I got an afternoon fishing trip in last Tuesday with a buddy throwing Zig Jigs on the White. We caught three of the creamsicle trout. Kinda crazy considering how few of that color variant were stocked overall.

I wonder if that color will darken over time (if any survive) to a more muted version.

I wonder too, if someone from the board catches one in a few months maybe they could take a pic and post it here.

[fiveweight]

The press release says they are not albinos, but what I have read elsewhere says they have a trait that is basically partial albinism. Not all albino animals are completely void of pigment, some just lack most of it and "golden" rainbow trout fall into this category, for all intents and purposes they should be considered an albino specimen by most biologists. They are a genetic mutation, not a hybrid, and perfectly capable of reproducing. they can cross with hatchery strain fish, and since they are the same species there is no reason to believe they will spawn at different times or somehow isolate themselves to separate redds. With the thousands upon thousands of fish stocked annually by the AGFC why pollute the gene pool with a nominal number of fish that have a gene making them easy targets for predators? Beyond novelty in environments where natural reproduction doesn't exist, I don't understand this decision. They originated as a natural mutant in an otherwise normal rainbow hatchery strain out east, so they could also technically have appeared in Ozark hatcheries, though selective breeding would have been required to boost their numbers. Hopefully they will be removed quickly and any cross-bred offspring displaying the characteristic will be weeded from the gene pool within a generation or two.

[ness]

I'd have to agree with fiveweight. Why do this? Were they on sale?

Hopefully 'natural selection' will purge these ugly bastids quickly.

[Zack Hoyt]

I'd have to agree with fiveweight. Why do this? Were they on sale?

It has been said they purchased these due to short comings of hatchery roduction last year. There were so many trout wiped out by the floods, that hatchery's could not keep up a healthy rate of reproduction.

Also, they used to stock these fish in the Beaver Tailwaters section of the White years ago. No ill effects I have been able to find.

Fiveweight, can you site your sources for information?

[Dave Cook]

Here is one my son caught below Broken Bow Dam, Ok on the Mountain Fork. He could spot more than one in the stream but the water was not clear enough to spot the regular rainbows. I don't think anyone has to worry (pro or con) about them becoming part of the gene pool in stocked waters.

[Gavin]

They are mutants...Real goldens are native to the Sierra's...Kern river etc. and they are stocked in some of the mountain lakes out west...What AFGC stocked are hatchery raised mutant rainbows...They call em Goldens or Palomino's....but they arent golden trout. Google Palomino trout and you will find lots of info on them. I call em Judas trout because they mix in with their native colored brethren and give their positions away. Not a fish worth maintaining IMO.

[fiveweight]

Zack, OK make me do some work here but here are some references:

From the Pennsylvania fish commission web site - brief history of the golden rainbows and statement that they are a mutation and not sterile:

http://www.fish.state.pa.us/images/pages/q...rout_golden.htm

That link suggests they are not albinos, but does not address the cause of lighter pigment.

This link describes a type of albinism called "Tyrosinase-negative". I think the golden rainbows are probably something like this.

"lack tyrosinase (an enzyme which synthesises melanin) in their cells; this usually produces a pale yellowish or cream animal with pink-eyes." - Note that is a statement of animals in general, so the pink eyes part probably doesn't apply to fish.

If you do a google Image search on the term "Tyrosinase-negative", you will see pictures of pale yellow snakes with markings similar to normally pigmented animals - very similar to our golden bows.

http://www.messybeast.com/albinism/albino-index.htm

I just found another site that seems to confirm this.

Here's an excerpt, though the article a little over my head:

"Albinism is a recessive trait in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). We tested for complementation at the albino locus among six USA rainbow trout strains and found that albinos from four domesticated strains and one Idaho steelhead strain are mutant at the same locus. These strains apparently are tyrosinase-deficient albinos."

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=A...3f6919947273f90

[Zack Hoyt]

Thank you very much. I had read the Penn site and one other. The otehr two I hadnt stumbled upon. Good background info to have.

[ness]

That's all great, but the fact remains: they're butt-ugly.

[fiveweight]

Agree ness, butt ugly. I got pretty excited the first time I heard of these things which was recently in North Carolina. A Cherokee reservation we were driving by advertised trophy catch and release "golden trout" on a billboard. Curious, I picked up a brochure and saw these ugly pale rainbows, nothing like a real golden trout. It wreaked of tourist trap gimmickry. Glad I passed.