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Types of Trout Fish

Trout are close relatives to the salmon. Most live in fresh water, though some migrate to the sea and return to fresh water to spawn. Their appearance, like that of the salmon, sometimes changes during the breeding season. Trouts also have a pelvic axillary scale, an enlarged and elongated scale at the pelvic or pectoral fin, and an adipose fin made of fat. Trout usually have well-developed teeth in both jaws. They are prized as game and food fish. Trouts eat crustaceans and other fish.

Apache Trout
- The Apache trout can grow to 18 inches long and weigh 3 lbs. It's a moderately fat, compressed fish that's dark olive or brown above with a yellow or golden belly and side and dark spots on the body. There's a quite large black spot behind the eye. It lives in clear mountain streams in the Salt and Little Colorado rivers and east-central Arizona. A related species, the Gila trout has smaller spots and occurs in southwest New Mexico to central Arizona. The Apache and Gila trouts are both endangered.
Cutthroat Trout
- The Cutthroat trout lives in the ocean close to shore and in estuaries, lakes and coastal inland and alpine streams. It grows to 30 inches long and can weigh 41 lbs. It's a long fish with a dark back whose sides could be olive or silvery, reddish or orange-yellow. The red and orange red slash mark on each side of the throat gives the fish its name. It ranges from Alaska to northern California and inland from British Columbia to Alberta and south to Colorado. There are about 16 species of cutthroat trout.
Rainbow Trout
- The rainbow trout can grow 4 feet long and weigh over 42 lbs. It's marine coloring is metallic blue on top and silvery white below. The freshwater rainbow trout has a red band on the sides and a white mouth with no teeth at the back of the tongue. It lives in the inshore ocean at mid-depth or near the surface, but spawns in freshwater streams and rivers. When it's in the sea, it ranges from the Bering Sea to southern California. In freshwater, it's found in streams and lakes all over Canada and the United States. The rainbow trout usually spends two to four yeas in its home stream before it goes to sea. It stays there for three more years, then returns to its home stream to spawn. The rainbow trout is a good game fish and is raised commercially for the market.
Lake Trout
- The lake trout is the largest trout in North America. It can grow to 4.5 feet long and weigh 107 lbs. It's olive or gray above and blue-gray to green-bronze below, with creamy spots on the body. It lives in deep cold lakes in Alaska, Canada, Maine, New York and west to Eastern Minnesota where it eats insects, smaller fish and a wide variety of aquatic life. It's also valued as a game fish.

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