THE STEELHEAD TROUT 

 (Salmo rivularis) 



The history of the so-called steelhead trout and the 

 efforts to class these sea-run fishes as a species sep- 

 arate from the rainbow and the cutthroat, is interest- 

 ing, if not amusing. No one questioned that they were 

 other than the sea-run of the rainbow or the cutthroat, 

 according to the locality, until Dr. Richardson, mistak- 

 ing a young blueback salmon for a so-called steelhead 

 gave it the scientific name of Salmo gairdneri, and the 

 description of this young salmon was recognized as 

 that of the steelhead for years, and under this name 

 it appears in the statutes of California, with a separate 

 season for its protection. In other words the Salmo 

 gairdneri of the laws of California is a young blueback 

 salmon and not a sea-run trout of any kind. Recently 

 Dr. Ayers to correct the mistake, examined a fish taken 

 from the Sacramento river and said to be a steelhead, 

 gave it the name of Salmo rivularis, and this now stands 

 as the scientific name of the so-called steelhead. Dr. 

 Jordan, in an article recently published in the Pacific 

 Monthly, says: "There has been much discussion as 

 to whether the steelhead is a species really distinct 

 from the rainbow trout, and on this subject the writer 

 (Jordan) has at different times held different opinions." 



If one authority bases his reasons for a belief in a 

 specific difference between the rainbow and the steel- 

 head on the fact that he did find a difference between 

 a blueback salmon and a rainbow, and another author- 

 ity finds so little difference that he holds different 

 opinions at different times, can there be any wonder 

 that the practical angler, who catches these sea-run 

 fish at the mouths of our rivers in every stage of transi- 

 tion, or gradation, if you please, from the typical rain- 

 bow to the Simon pure steelhead, refuses to believe 

 that there is a specific difference? 



Then again, Messrs. Jordan and Evermann in bulle- 

 tin 47 of the United States National Museum, "The 

 Fishes of North and Middle America," say: "In the 

 lower course of the Columbia they (the steelhead) are 

 entirely distinct from the cutthroat or clarki series, 

 and no one would question the validity of the two 

 species. In the lower Snake river and other waters 

 east of the Cascade range, the two forms or species 

 are indistinguishable, being either undifferenciated or 

 else inextricably mixed." 



From this it would seem clear that the steelhead of 

 the Columbia, where the cutthroat abounds, are cut- 

 140 



