While the ignoble Brook Trout has enjoyed recent popularity due to its coronation as the Official Char of the Trout Underground, the question remains which Char is that exactly?
Brook trout are exhibiting two distinct sets of behaviors, and scientists are attempting to determine whether it’s in the early stages of divergence – splitting into two distinct albeit related species, one aggressive and actively foraging, the other content with a shady bank – and whatever drifts by.
It turns out that the telencephalon, the part of the brain linked to movement and spatial abilities, was relatively larger in the fish that went foraging away from shore, where they would have to recognize underwater landmarks to navigate and avoid becoming prey themselves.
But this raises other questions. Were the fish reacting to their environments differently, and developing separate behaviours in consequence?
A study now being completed by another of McLaughlin’s former students, points in that direction.
The brook charr that hugged the bank have higher levels of the hormone cortisol, which is associated with stress, so perhaps worry keeps them home.
Given the Trout Underground’s penchant for snoring hounds (whose telencephalon lacks folds or fissures) – and fatter slaw-smothered dogs, there can be little doubt the early nod for Official Char should be the couch potato worry-wart (Salvenus Stressor tuberosum) variant.
Leaving us lean and predatory coarse fishermen to adopt the “Big Brain on Brad” Salvenus – as the Official Snack of Them as Lives in Sewage.
… where that big brain can be an advantage – however short lived.
We captured 42 of 74 individuals in 1991 and 42 of 69 individuals in 1992. Each captured fish was killed immediately with a blow to the head, its fork length measured to the nearest millimeter, and the carcass placed in a labelled plastic tube and put on wet ice.
Oops, maybe not. A 57% capture rate in the first year followed by 61% in the subsequent season suggests a drop in IQ – more smart fish were thumped than slumbering homebodies.
… and for them as fish for them regular, remember it may take two or three drifts before them Eastern tubers even think of stirring off that couch.
Eastern Brook trout, Salvenus fontinalis, char, trout underground, evolution of trout, trout fishing, fly fishing, telencephalon
All I know is that they’re harder to catch, if you can find them, than Brownies or Rainbows!
“The brook charr that hugged the bank have higher levels of the hormone cortisol, which is associated with stress, so perhaps worry keeps them home.”
Obviously, the stress induced by becoming the Official Char of the Trout Underground is taking its toll!
Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan have sent a powerful message on how the minor “nobility” should conduct themselves …
I’d be stressed too.