# Haploid Brook Trout - Odd Request for Boulder Experts



## toasty (May 15, 2008)

So I'm needing a picture of a haploid brook trout and/or a pic of the sterile brook trout that they stock on boulder mountain. I had a good friend catch one out of fish creek reservoir on boulder and we just can't make out the pattern detail in his pic. If anyone has a close up pic of a side of the fish that came from that lake, let me know via PM or on the forum.


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## brookieguy1 (Oct 14, 2008)

I'm not positive, but I feel if the fish came from Fish Creek Lake it would not have been brook at all, but a splake or tiger trout. The sterile brook trout are stocked in the reservoir below F.C. res. Perhaps one could have swam upstream, but I believe their are some substantial natural barriers, i.e. waterfalls. I may be wrong though. There should be no major differences in the markings between a sterile and non-sterile brook trout though. The biggest difference would be in whether it was male or female.


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## toasty (May 15, 2008)

brookieguy1 said:


> I'm not positive, but I feel if the fish came from Fish Creek Lake it would not have been brook at all, but a splake or tiger trout. The sterile brook trout are stocked in the reservoir below F.C. res. Perhaps one could have swam upstream, but I believe their are some substantial natural barriers, i.e. waterfalls. I may be wrong though. There should be no major differences in the markings between a sterile and non-sterile brook trout though. The biggest difference would be in whether it was male or female.


Thanks for the reply, in my haste to post, I said fish creek, however it was beaver dam. The fish doesn't have any identifying marks to show it is a male or a female. It has a bit of a humped back, but the head and jaw of a female. Do sterile fish show the typical characteristics of male and female?


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## Brookie (Oct 26, 2008)

The answer is it looks just like any other brook trout, some will take on the male traits and some take on the female traits. post a pic and It will help or pm and I'll give you my email


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## Brookie (Oct 26, 2008)

It is also easier to tell male verses female at certain times of the year


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

did you look between it's fins?


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## BRN (Sep 18, 2007)

PBH said:


> did you look between it's fins?


Come on, Brett, you can be more helpful than that (BTW, you're better off looking behind the anal fin than between fins).

If the color and spotting looked funny, it could have been a splake that came down from Fish Creek. If you post the photo, we could probably figure it out.

Here is a triploid brook from Beaver Dam.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

BRN said:


> Come on, Brett, you can be more helpful than that (BTW, you're better off looking behind the anal fin than between fins).


I think, considering the time of year, that I would have just given the fish a good squeeze!

BRN -- did you catch that fish yourself? With a hook and line?


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## HighmtnFish (Jun 3, 2010)

I am fairly sure that your friend did not catch a brook trout. My guess is that he caught a very colorful splake. Here are some pictures that may help clarify my point.

[attachment=4:1v38wa7d]IMG_0874 (2)_edited-1.jpg[/attachment:1v38wa7d]
[attachment=3:1v38wa7d]IMG_0877_edited-1.jpg[/attachment:1v38wa7d]
[attachment=2:1v38wa7d]100_8147_edited-1.jpg[/attachment:1v38wa7d]

When the fish are NOT in spawning colors, identification can be a little bit harder.
[attachment=1:1v38wa7d]June 2010 103_edited-1.jpg[/attachment:1v38wa7d]
[attachment=0:1v38wa7d]May June 2011 110_edited-1.jpg[/attachment:1v38wa7d]


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## DocEsox (May 12, 2008)

Guys just a note of clarification on the gene designation. All fish have two set of chromosomes.....each set is considered a haploid set.....therefore all the "normal" fish are diploid fish. The heat treated sterile ones have three haploid sets and are therefore triploids.......I took too much genetics a long, long, long time ago.

Brian :O•-:


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## Dodger (Oct 20, 2009)

That is the funkiest looking splake I have ever seen. 

Does anyone else find it weird that sterile fish have spawning colors? Mother nature is one wacky lady.

Nice fish, btw.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

dodger -- sterile only means that they can't reproduce. It doesn't mean that they don't try. They still produce the hormones, as well as the eggs/milt in many cases. They just don't work. It's not like they've removed their sex organs.

FWIW -- many splake display brilliant colors depending on diet. You can find brilliantly colored splake all times of the year, if they are eating the right things: crustaceans. shrimp. This is why you see very colorful splake in Fish Lake and lakes on the Boulder, yet places like Joe's Valley have very bland colored splake. Diet. Flamingos are much the same. They are pink for 1 reason: diet. They eat shrimp (a crustacean high in carotene). Take the shrimp away from a flamingo, and it will turn white. Take the shrimp away from the splake, and those colors will also disappear.


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## Dodger (Oct 20, 2009)

I thought I heard the DWR say that one of the reasons that hybrids grew so fast was because they didn't put the energy they would have used for spawning into growing. But, if they are producing eggs/trying to spawn, that thought doesn't make sense.

I've caught splake at Fish Lake but I've never seen one like in those pictures. If not for the tail, I would have called it a brookie. Interesting PBH. Thanks.


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## PBH (Nov 7, 2007)

Dodger -- think "some". not all. Some will still go through a false spawn.

Also -- keep in mind, it's diet. Fish Lake get's more colorful splake than Joe's Valley, but not as colorful as splake form the Boulder. It's due to their diet. More crustaceans available in those Boulder lakes. It can make them very confusing when trying to distinguish between brook trout and splake. Often times, you can tell just by their lenght -- but not always.


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## Dodger (Oct 20, 2009)

I guess it makes sense that there would be a gradient of sterile fish from the somewhat sexual to the a-sexual based on the body chemistry/dna makeup of each individual fish. 

Any idea of the percentages of sterile fish that produce eggs/milt? 

Thanks PBH. I learned something new.


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## toasty (May 15, 2008)

Thanks highmtnfish for the pics. They are just what I was looking for, I appreciate your help.


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