Tf)e Albino rjroot, Troat* 



By Clifford R. Pettis, F. E. 



AT the various fish hatcheries of this State there have appeared in the regular 

 hatch of fry from eggs of both wild and domesticated brook trout, fry 

 which were white. They have naturally been called albinos. In some 

 cases they have been selected and reared separately. At other times they have been 

 raised without any particular care, planted with the general stock, and been lost 

 to notice. 



The albino brook trout is a form of our common brook trout, the Salvelinus fonti- 

 nalis. It differs from the regular form only in color. Its skin is a creamy white, 

 mottled or barred with brownish yellow, the white" on the ventral side shading to 

 the darker color of the dorsal portion. The dorsal and caudal fins are yellowish, 

 while the lower fins are light colored. The eyes are pink. 



Albino Trout in tl)is 5*^- 



The first authentic record of albino trout in this State that I am able to find 

 were those raised by the late James Marks, then foreman of the State Hatchery 

 at Caledonia. About 1875 some albino fry appeared among the hatch of that 

 season, from which a female fish was raised that lived to be six years old, and 

 attained a length of about eleven inches. When she was three years old she produced 

 eggs Having no albino male, her eggs were fertilized by an ordinary brook trout. 

 The fry produced were mostly straight brook trout, but a few, however, were 

 albinos. All record of the fry thus hatched has been lost. Albinos have appeared 

 at this hatchery from 1880 to 1888, the number varying from 15 to 300 in a 

 season. No particular attention was paid to them, and they were planted with 

 the others. Albino brown trout have also been hatched at the Caledonia Hatchery. 



At the Fulton Chain Hatchery, albinos appear nearly every season both among 

 the lake and brook trout fry. Foreman Davidson, in 1902, saved five from the fry 

 hatched that spring out of 300,000 brook trout eggs. Four of these lived and 

 were liberated with the other fingerlings in the same year. 



* A portion of this article appeared in a contribution by the same author to the June number 

 of Science, 1904, and is reprinted here by permission. 



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