The McCloud River redband trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss stonei'') is one of three redband trout subspecies of the

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coasta ...

in the family Salmonidae. The trout is native in small tributaries of the McCloud River and

Pit River The Pit River is a major river draining from northeastern California into the state's Central Valley. The Pit, the Klamath and the Columbia are the only three rivers in the U.S. that cross the Cascade Range. The longest tributary of the Sacr ...

which are tributaries of California's

Sacramento River The Sacramento River ( es, Río Sacramento) is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento–S ...

. Its historic range has declined significantly since it was first described in 1894. Remaining populations of genetically pure McCloud River redband trout are threatened by predation, habitat loss, competition with introduced trout species and by hybridization with hatchery rainbow trout introduced to support

sport fishing Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is professional fishing for profit; or subsistence fishing, which is fishing ...

Historic influence on hatchery rainbow trout

In 1877, the second California rainbow trout hatchery and the first federal fish hatchery in the National Fish Hatchery System, was established on Campbell Creek, a McCloud River tributary. The McCloud River hatchery indiscriminately mixed coastal rainbow trout (''O. m. irideus'') eggs with the eggs of local McCloud River redband trout . Eggs from the McCloud hatchery were also provided to the San Leandro hatchery, thus making the origin and genetic history of hatchery-bred rainbow trout somewhat diverse and complex. Rainbow trout eggs and fry from these two hatcheries were the original source of most artificially propagated rainbow trout in the world.

Notes

Oncorhynchus Trout, McCloud Trout, McCloud Trout, McCloud Pit River Natural history of the California Coast Ranges Natural history of the Central Valley (California) Natural history of Shasta County, California Natural history of Siskiyou County, California Shasta-Trinity National Forest Fauna without expected TNC conservation status {{Salmoniformes-stub