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Eurwentala β Unfortunate Mate Choice
#fish #fisheries #hybridization #hybrids #mexico #rainbowtrout #trout #goldentrout #oncorhynchus
Published: 2014-12-03 10:27:45 +0000 UTC; Views: 5228; Favourites: 124; Downloads: 0
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Description
Extinction by hybridization is a very real threat to many species. One of them is the Mexican golden trout (Oncorhynchus chrysogaster) a small, beautiful salmonid endemic to Mexico. It's home waters have been flooded by introduced rainbow trout (O. mykiss).The two trout interbreed and produce hybrid offspring. With rainbow trout being released by the millions, most of the offspring are bound to be hybrids. The unfortunate thing is, rainbow trout are not well adapted to the warm waters in Mexico, and their population will slowly wither away, unable to sustain itself. There's a risk they will take the golden trout with it, it's genes too diluted in the population of hybrids to help much in adapting.
So here's the hybridization in action: a large male rainbow trout spawning with a much smaller female Mexican golden trout.
An illustration I made for Helsingin Sanomat, a Finnish daily newspaper. Black markers and digital painting.
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Comments: 34
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Do you have any idea how many people you're irking with your Blitzkrieg comments?Β IT NEEDS TO STOP!
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I don't really mind. I understand, but please don't start a war in my gallery, okay?
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I wonder if fish farms have considered this; making hybrids themselves for market, as long as they keep those hybrids out of the wild. I wouldn't be surprised.
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Such a sad story, but it's one out of millions. 6th mass extinction indeed.Β
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It is.
The good thing is, this extinction is easily avoided, if those who control Mexican fish introductions just care the slightest bit. As rainbow trout cannot produce viable populations in such a warm climate, the problem solves itself fast enough by just stopping the fish stocking.
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The issue is getting people to care. :/
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Don't think that will do-some of the hybrids would probably survive.
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Humans-wiping out life on earth for 50000 years!
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And then people get mad at David Attenborough for saying that humans are a plague on the Earth. Β
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I like your pterosaur, by the way.
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You really got those two salmonids good here. The look very wet and fishy, though that's probably not the best description for a drawing
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Haha, thanks. 
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True though. Anyways I really like this due to the colors representing the two different salmonid species. That light red color is screaming rainbow trout all over the place, so it can't be mistaken for any other species (at least none native to the Swiss aquatic fauna). I got to admit that I haven't seen many rainbow trouts in the past few years anymore though, since the government stopped introducing them and went with native brown trouts instead. Fortunately we had no hybridization issues, even though the rainbow trout does very well in our waters and threatened to replace the more slowly growing brown trout.
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Here both are invasive and pushing natives out.
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I didn't knew the brown trout has been introduced to north America, since many fishermen seem to consider it a salmonid of lesser value due to it's slower growth rate. The Canadian lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) has been introduced to Swiss mountain lakes though. However I haven't heard that it's causing any damage among the native fauna since the government isn't trying to get rid of it like the rainbow trout.
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The situation with salmonids is insane. Pacific salmon are invading Atlantic waters, Atlantic salmon are invading the Pacific, rainbow trout are invading and being invaded by brown and brook trout, cutthroats are being invaded by rainbow, brown, brook, lake and hybrid trouts while invading their own species (over 14 subspecies) and Apache, golden, and Gila trout, which are also invading each other as well as some of the rarer cutthroat subspecies, brook trout are invading Β being invaded by Pacific salmon, rainbow trout and brown trout. And if we start talking about different subspecies, strains, and hybrids, it gets far too insane.
everything is invading and being invaded by everything else.
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Wow, that's a complicated mess! I'm glad we haven't such big problems (yet).
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We have splake (lake trout x brook trout), tiger trout (brown trout x brook trout), and pretty much everything in the Pacific genus has hybridized with another species (Chinook x coho, Cuttbow, and the one shown above, for just a few).
Rainbow trout are so messed up to the point there are few, if any, native populations left.
All trout and salmon species are invading and threatening, and being invaded and threatened by, all other trout and salmon species. It is a huge mess and people are actually willing to see it happen.
To top this off, all wild populations of all the species are being invaded by captive, unfit, but abundant individuals of all species.
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Why do people in Canada want to see that happen? Due to fishing?
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Yes, despite the fact this isn't necessary for fishing.
They are killing native species to make way for the invasives again.
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Look up the Green River Rehabilitation.
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I hate rainbow trout-they killed an entire river to kill natives and to place the trout in.
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Well it's not like it's the trout's fault they were introduced.
That said, poisoning or otherwise emptying rivers or lakes from native fauna to introduce exotic fish is incredibly stupid. I found it hard to believe anyone would actually do that when I first heard of it. In my country, people have been introducing fish (rainbow trout among them) for decades, but I don't think there's ever been a serious suggestion about killing natives to make roon for them.
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That was the largest fish killing ever. They literally killed every fish in an entire river despite the fact that the area was protected, the fish were as well and those species had good sporting potential (including a giant carnivorous minnow growing to 100 pounds and eating everything else in the river. Largest in this century weigh about 60 pounds, so still very large)
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Now that's really disturbing. I hope people will smarten up and stop doing that.
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That was the last time they ever tired that (they got a load of bad press for this), but trout-related killing of native species goes on today.
Hell with the trout, let's just fish for the 6-foot terror minnows that even eat birds!
Look up the Green River operation. They called it the Green River Rehabilitation (as if...)
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