what the heck?

[Trollinstone]

caught this fish in banks lake last weekend, bull trout? or what?

 

[bob r]

Color and spots look lioke a Dolly Varden so I would suspect you have indeed caught a small bull trout as the two are so similar in appearance.There is a photo of a larger Dolly in Lake Quinalt post. Bob R

 

[Trollinstone]

I sent pics to a who friend, who in turn sent them to a biologist at EWU, turns out it most likley is a bull trout-kokanee hybrid, I had no idea they could even interbreed....anyone ever heard of such a thing?

 

[bob r]

Bull trout are Salvelinus confluentus, scientific name, first word, genus, second word species. Kokanee are Oncorhynchus nerka, sockeye salmon, species can sometimes interbreed such as Dolly Varden(Salvelinus malma) and Bull Trout, but not salmon and Bulls(which aren't even trout, nor are Brook trout trout, but members of the family that include chars).Biologist at EWU shouldn't have gotten a degree to make such identification mistakes. Bob R

 

[Trollinstone]

I kinda wish i had kept it, although if it indeed was a bull trout that would have been illegal to retain, it wasnt harmed at all so i released him after some photos. Im sending some photos to a WDFW bio, maybe he could shed some light on the matter