Bull Trout - Brook Trout Hybrids

Bull Trout hybrid in Sun Creek.

NPS

Bull Trout - Brook Trout Hybrids

Bull Trout (Salvelinus confluentus) belong to fish collectively known as char that includes:

• Arctic Char (S. alpinus)
• White-Spotted Char (S. leucomaenis)
• Dolly Varden (S. malma)
• Lake Trout (S. namaycush)
• Brook Trout (S. fontinalis)
  

Bull Trout native to:

• western North America
• northern California
• Nevada
• through areas of Canada

Brook Trout are native to eastern North America, but have been stocked in rivers and streams throughout the western United States, including many within the range of Bull Trout.

Bull Trout and Brook Trout when they co-occur

• they often spawn together
• produce hybrid offspring
  

Genetic evidence from hybrid populations suggests

• hybrids are almost always sterile
• hybrids cannot produce offspring of their own
• hybrid DNA are not passed on to future generations
• has caused dramatic declines of Bull Trout in many streams including Sun Creek
  

 

Bull Trout - Brook Trout Hybrid from Sun Creek.

NPS