wondering about the color of the trout meat I got from BBL

[mchawkins707]

So my buddies and I were fishing BBL on saturday and we caught a few keepers. I was cleaning the fish later that night and all of them had the typical, tasty red meat of a hold over...except one. One of the fish had the external coloring of a post spawn rainbow male, even had the hooked lip and everything. But when I was cleaning it I noticed right away that the meat was white...Really really white. Not like a normal stocker trout. Like...a crappie. But this fish was clearly a very healthy rainbow trout, about 2 LB range. Does anybody have any ideas about this. Ive been fishing for about 21 years and consider my self fairly schooled on trout, but I'm hoping some of the experts can chime in on this topic.

[Mike274]

Could have been one of the older trout. In the past not all trout had the pink meat though most seem to know. That does sound like a post spawner. They started spawning in April or so.

[Trout Daddy]

Trout that are in reproductive mode always have paler flesh. Most of their energy at that time is going towards reproduction and not maintaining flesh.

[fishfinder]

Diet is what changes the flesh. Zooplankton, crayfish, adn other invertebrate eggs will change the flesh color. If fed hatchery food, benthic insects, minnows, the flesh will be white-(ish). Something to do with carotinoids. Caratinoid uptake by fish is controlled by at least two genes. One makes a carrier protien found in the blood, and the other is a transporter protein that allows the pigment to accumulate in muscle tissue. If either gene is absent, you get white meat.

[phishin phool]

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

diet is what changes the flesh. Zooplankton, crayfish, adn other invertebrate eggs will change the flesh color. If fed hatchery food, benthic insects, minnows, the flesh will be white-(ish). Something to do with carotinoids. Caratinoid uptake by fish is controlled by at least two genes. One makes a carrier protien found in the blood, and the other is a transporter protein that allows the pigment to accumulate in muscle tissue. If either gene is absent, you get white meat.

[I Rocha]

Diet is what changes the flesh. Zooplankton, crayfish, adn other invertebrate eggs will change the flesh color. If fed hatchery food, benthic insects, minnows, the flesh will be white-(ish). Something to do with carotinoids. Caratinoid uptake by fish is controlled by at least two genes. One makes a carrier protien found in the blood, and the other is a transporter protein that allows the pigment to accumulate in muscle tissue. If either gene is absent, you get white meat.

u tipe big werdz

[Stormcrow]

Diet is what changes the flesh. Zooplankton, crayfish, adn other invertebrate eggs will change the flesh color. If fed hatchery food, benthic insects, minnows, the flesh will be white-(ish). Something to do with carotinoids. Caratinoid uptake by fish is controlled by at least two genes. One makes a carrier protien found in the blood, and the other is a transporter protein that allows the pigment to accumulate in muscle tissue. If either gene is absent, you get white meat.


Well done. I enjoyed reading that. Im not as familiar with the physiology and genetic makeup of that genus as I am with Micropterus. I knew that diet can influence pigmentation in feathers of birds and the like but Im not versed in the details. Did you get that out of a journal? And if so, could you forward me the reference?

[TheAsianGuy]

Now that's a biologist explanation! Couldn't top that one!



Diet is what changes the flesh. Zooplankton, crayfish, adn other invertebrate eggs will change the flesh color. If fed hatchery food, benthic insects, minnows, the flesh will be white-(ish). Something to do with carotinoids. Caratinoid uptake by fish is controlled by at least two genes. One makes a carrier protien found in the blood, and the other is a transporter protein that allows the pigment to accumulate in muscle tissue. If either gene is absent, you get white meat.

However, this also applies..


Trout that are in reproductive mode always have paler flesh. Most of their energy at that time is going towards reproduction and not maintaining flesh.

Just to add on top of that, if you apply the environmental factor into the entire picture, the oxygen demand in the aquatic environment also dictate the color of the flesh. Higher oxygen content due to the lack of invasive plant species will promote higher blood content in the fish's body, creating a high richer blood count. However, when you introduce high nutrient content into the water body, the invasive plant species will reduce the total amount of oxygen available in the lake, causing the total oxygen demand to increase (total oxygen level decreases), prevent the aquatic species to have less oxygen rich blood content. So, the flesh may become more pale, which can be distinct by the external flesh color as well. Next time, look at the gill of the fishes first before cutting into the fishes. You'll understand what I mean. If the gills are not rich red color, the water is lacking the oxygen content required by the aquatic species. Just like the part under your eye lids. the eye lid down, and you'll see if you're lacking oxygen in your system due to iron deficiency. The paler your bottom eye lid areas are, the more iron and water you need in your system to transport oxygen content throughout your system. Hope that make sense.

[seal]

It was a recent stocker for the tournament. Some of the fish came from, I believe, Mt. Lassen and will possibly have the coloration you are speaking of. Even some of the stock from the DFG will potentially have spawning colors, I know some people get all freaked out at the hookjaws that are occasionally planted at Silverwood thinking they are browns or something yet the meat would be very pale.

I've heard that the trout feed on fresh water shrimp at BBL and that contributes to the pink meat. I very much doubt that a fish with extremely white meat is a holdover at BBL.