OUTDOORS
East Oregonian
B2
Saturday, November 6, 2021
A brief history lesson in salmon, trout names
DENNIS
DAUBLE
THE NATURAL WORLD
I
magine yourself as a natural-
ist, two centuries ago, when up
to 20 million Pacifi c salmon
and steelhead returned annually
to spawn in the Columbia River
Basin.
Several species of resident
trout also ranged throughout the
Columbia and Snake rivers and
their tributaries at the time. How
would you describe these strange
and wonderful fi sh when only one
species, the rainbow trout of east-
ern Russia (Salmo gairdneri), had
previously been accounted for?
Journal passages from the
1805 Lewis and Clark Expedition
alluded to fi ve diff erent salmon
and trout west of the Rocky
Mountains. Included in their list
were “salmon” (chinook salmon),
“white salmon-trout” (coho or
silver salmon), “salmon-trout”
(steelhead/rainbow trout), “red
charr” (possibly sockeye salmon)
and “speckled” or “mountain
trout” (cutthroat trout). Other
salmon and trout species were
either scarce or the explorers failed
to recognize them as diff erent.
For example, there was no
mention of pink or chum salmon
when both are seasonally abundant
in coastal waters. In their defense,
Lewis noted on March 2, 1806, “I
have no doubt there are many other
species of fi sh ... which we have
not had the opportunity of seeing.”
In contrast to how newly
discovered plants and animals
were saved for further study,
early naturalists had no means to
preserve fi sh specimens. William
Clark, the principal mapmaker and
illustrator of the Expedition, made
sketches of only two of 11 fi shes
encountered in western waters: the
eulachon or Columbia River smelt,
and “white salmon trout.” Rarely
were any measurements taken.
Only when the U.S. Exploring
Expedition conducted surveys to
determine the most feasible route
for a transcontinental railroad did
thorough description of salmon
and trout of the Pacific North-
west take place. Consequently,
the taxonomy of various trout and
salmon species remained in fl ux
through most of the 19th century.
Approximately 50 species of
western trout were initially cata-
logued by early naturalists. The
renowned ichthyologist, George
Suckley, in an 1861 treatise titled
“On the North American Species
of Salmon and Trout,” managed
to pare the list down to 43. Of
that group, rainbow trout were
tagged with a total of 25 diff er-
ent scientifi c names. Attributing a
new species name to a locale or a
person helped keep them straight.
Early taxonomic methods
focused on visual characteristics
such as body size, the counting of
fi n rays and gill rakers, and color,
including spotting patterns. Male
and female salmon (what anglers
term a “buck” and a “hen”) were
sometimes thought to be diff erent
species, as were juvenile forms
and fi sh that changed their color
or size of jaw at spawning time.
Consider another journal entry
from Lewis and Clark: “in this
neighborhood we have met with
another species which does not
Dennis Dauble/Contributed Photo
Adult steelhead exhibit a wide range of colors and spotting patterns when they enter the freshwater spawning phase of life. A silvery ocean-caught steelhead
likely would be described as a diff erent species in the mid-19th century.
Clark’s moniker “salmon trout” for
steelhead is easy to reconstruct.
After all, isn’t a steelhead a large
trout that acts like a salmon? What
about the “white salmon trout?” At
the time of Lewis and Clark, coho
salmon were abundant throughout
the Columbia River Basin. Coho
spawn rear in tributary streams
and juveniles remain in fresh
water for one or two years. These
attributes mimic the life history
and behavior of steelhead where
the two species overlap. My best
guess is the characteristic white
gum line of coho salmon triggered
the thought to these explorers.
Not to be forgotten is the
“salmon” of Lewis and Clark,
no doubt the most important fi sh
they encountered. The Canadian
explorer David Thompson also
used the term to describe chinook
salmon when he traveled through
the mid-Columbia region in 1812,
often adding “small salmon” to his
notes as a distinction.
Science advances when new
ways of thinking and innovative
techniques are applied to age old
problems. Consider the words
Dennis Dauble/Contributed Photo of the French biologist Charles
Juvenile steelhead lose their distinct oval-shaped parr marks when they swim to the ocean as bright shiny Girard, “the method I follow is
the natural, the true method, that
“smolts.” Two centuries ago, the two life history forms might be considered diff erent species.
which has superseded the artifi cial
diff er from the other in any partic- ships rather than physical appear- For example, all fi ve species of method of the last century.”
Not the case, it seems, 150 or so
ular except in the point of colour.” ance. Concurrently with this Pacific salmon (chinook, coho,
Fast forward to 1989 when a finding, Oncorhynchus mykiss sockeye, pink, chum) die after years later.
———
committee of fi sheries scientists was chosen as the scientifi c name they return from the sea to spawn,
Dennis Dauble is a retired
took advantage of newly discov- for both the North American and while the two species of Pacifi c
ered genetic evidence to recom- the Asian, or mikizha, form of trout (rainbow and cutthroat), fi shery scientist, outdoor writer,
hybridize with each other, may presenter and educator who lives
mend the seven species of Pacifi c steelhead/rainbow trout.
salmon and trout we know today
Interestingly, the cur rent or may not migrate to the sea, and in Richland, Washington. For
be combined into a single genus, classifi cation scheme ignores a can spawn more than once (i.e., are more stories about fi sh and fi shing
in area waters, see DennisDauble-
Oncorhynchus. Genetic evidence pronounced diff erence between iteroparous).
emphasizes evolutionary relation- Pacifi c salmon and Pacifi c trout.
The logic behind Lewis and Books.com.
ON THE SLATE
Saturday, Nov. 6
Prep football
2A state playoff s: Weston-McEwen
at Toledo, 1 p.m.
2A state playoff s: Regis at Heppner,
4 p.m.
Prep cross-country
Heppner at 2A/1A State Champi-
onships, Lane Community College,
10:35 a.m.
Hermiston at 3A State Champion-
ships, Pasco, 1 p.m.
Pendleton at 5A State Cham-
pionships, Lane Community
College, 2:20 p.m.
Prep girls soccer
5A quarterfi nals: Pendleton at La
Salle, noon
3A/2A/1A quarterfi nals: Riverside at
Oregon Episcopal, 1:30 p.m.
Prep boys soccer
3A/2A/1A quarterfi nals: Pleasant
Hill at Riverside, 3 p.m.
4A quarterfi nals: McLoughlin at
Philomath, 7 p.m.
Prep volleyball
District 8 playoff s: Ridgeline at
Hermiston (loser out), 1 p.m.
College football
ilders
Sunday, Nov. 7
College men’s wrestling
Eastern Oregon at Mountaineer
Open, La Grande, 9 a.m.
College women’s wrestling
Eastern Oregon at Mountaineer
Open, La Grande, 9 a.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 9
College volleyball
Eastern Oregon at Cascade Colle-
giate Conference Tournament, TBA
College men’s soccer
Eastern Oregon at Cascade Colle-
giate Conference Tournament, TBA
College women’s soccer
Eastern Oregon at Cascade Colle-
giate Conference Tournament, TBA
College men’s basketball
Eastern Oregon at Idaho State, exhi-
bition, 6 p.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 10
College volleyball
Spokane at Blue Mountain, 6 p.m.
College women’s basketball
Eastern Oregon vs. Rocky Mountain
College, LC Women’s Basketball Tour-
nament, Lewiston, Idaho, 1 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 13
College football
Southern Oregon at Eastern
Oregon, 1 p.m.
NEED
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Eastern Oregon at College of Idaho,
noon
College volleyball
Eastern Oregon at Evergreen State,
5 p.m.
College men’s wrestling
Southern Oregon at Eastern
Oregon, 6 p.m.
College women’s wrestling
Southern Oregon at Eastern
Oregon, 5 p.m.
New
Barn
or
Office?
Tobias Unruh, owner
600 David Eccles Rd
Baker City, Oregon
Sales
Elkhorn Barn Co.
Custom Barns and Storage
541-519 -2968 • Elkhornbarns@gmail.com • 509-331-4558