Mystery Fish Contest #4 Result
Answer: Bull Trout
The mystery fish species in our fourth mystery fish species contest is bull trout, but we also accept Salvelinus confluentus, bull char as correct answers.
Key features of a bull trout are the small light spots across its grey body (the body colour varies in different time of the year, it can be olive or brown for resident fish and silver for anadromous fish as well). The light spots is a common characteristic for all chars, which is a family of fish that bull trout belongs in. On top of the light spots, you'll find small pink spots along the lateral line. The lower edge of the anal and pelvic fins of a bull trout is often white. The last key feature on a bull trout is its large mouth, which extends way beyond its eyes.
Out of 329 entries, 79% (261 entries) were correct. The most common incorrect answer was dolly varden (55 entries), which looks very similar to a bull trout. Both bull trout and dolly varden's populations overlap in coastal regions of British Columbia. Both species are hard to differentiate with one glance and they in fact can interbreed. That being said, there are several small features used by biologists to identify both species. Bull trout are typically larger, they also have a much larger mouth than a dolly varden. Other unusual answers that we receive include steelhead, cutthroat trout and Atlantic salmon.
There are ten winners in this contest and each winner has won a pair of tickets to 2012 BC Boat & Sportsmen's Show at Tradex in Abbotsford, on March 2nd to 4th!