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

redband trout Redband trout are a group of three recognized subspecies of rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss''). They occur in three distinct regions in Pacific basin tributaries and endorheic basins in the western United States. The three subspecies are th ...

subspecies of the rainbow trout in the family

Salmonidae Salmonidae is a family of ray-finned fish that constitutes the only currently extant family in the order Salmoniformes . It includes salmon (both Atlantic and Pacific species), trout (both ocean-going and landlocked), chars, freshwater whitefis ...

. The trout is native in small tributaries of the

McCloud River The McCloud River is a longU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed March 10, 2011 river that flows east of and parallel to the upper Sacramento River, in Siskiyou County and S ...

and Pit River 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� ...

. 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 (economics), profit; or subsistence 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 The National Fish Hatchery System (NFHS) was established by the U.S. Congress in 1871 through the creation of a U.S. Commissioner for Fish and Fisheries. This system of fish hatcheries is now administered by the Fisheries Program of the U.S. Fis ...

, was established on Campbell Creek, a

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 San Leandro (Spanish for " St. Leander") is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area; between Oakland to the northwest, and Ashland, Castro Valley, and Hayward to the sout ...

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