Fish ID challenge

[vanish]

Caught these fish in the same creek a few years apart. I'm curious to hear your thoughts in species. I know what the biologist told me. High country of Colorado. Please give your reasoning.

 

[MThuntr]

Looks like a Brook Trout to me but I'm not an ichthyologist

 

[vanish]

Same place, different year.

 

[texwest44]

Well, it's definitely a char. CO high lakes can be an interesting gamble. It doesn't have parr marks to indicate small laker, but doesn't have the distinct squigglies of a brook trout. Almost looks like a little bully but what the heck would it be doing down there? Same goes for arctic char. I never rule anything out, people dump oddball fish in all kinds of oddball places.

 

[p_ham]

I'd say bull trout

 

[vanish]

These brook trout were caught in the next drainage over on the same trip.







( along with a couple hundred others )

 

[rwc101]

I wanted to say a bland brookie at first.

 

[texwest44]

See those brookies all have very distinct squigglies. The picture of the backbone in the first post has spots, not squigglies.

 

[Scott85]

Dorsal Fins are the give away between brook and bulls and none of your pictures show the dorsal fin to see if there are spots.

 

[vanish]

Dorsal Fins are the give away between brook and bulls and none of your pictures show the dorsal fin to see if there are spots.

Found one with a dorsal, but the finger shadow may be in just the wrong spot.

 

[RobG]

Out of bull trout range, plus no pale spots on back. Brook trout have vermiculations on their back, and black on fins. Lake trout has a deeper forked tail. The only thing I can think of is splake (brook x lake)

 

[Scott85]

Like RobG said it’s outside the Bull Trout range. It looks like there is faint spots on the dorsal. I would say they are pale looking brook trout.

 

[texwest44]

The next drainage over would have such drastically different looking brookies? I'm going with the hybrid theory, unless this turns out to be some weirdo lake where someone planted fish that shouldn't be there.

 

[Art Vandeley]

Mountain carp

 

[Scott85]

I can agree it’s a splake.

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

I catch them all over all the time in mountain streams in idaho. Always curious of they were some sort of cross or pale brookies.

 

[seeth07]

Splake

 

[Goodfish]

Taste test?

 

[Northwoods]

Brown trout. The fins, tail, and back just do not look like a brookie to me.

 

[Pelican]

Brook trout. Splake have more of a forked tail.