Steelhead

🗺️ Habitat

Born in coastal rivers and streams from Northern California to Alaska; migrates to the Pacific Ocean. Also introduced to the Great Lakes (Great Lakes steelhead).

🔍 How to Identify Steelhead

• 1Silvery overall (ocean-fresh fish) with a pink stripe and black spots
• 2More silver and less colorful than resident rainbow trout
• 3Smaller head relative to body than resident rainbow trout
• 4More streamlined, torpedo-shaped body from ocean feeding
• 5Pink lateral stripe and spotted tail similar to rainbow trout

🍽️ Diet

In ocean: crustaceans, squid, herring, and small fish. In freshwater: limited feeding.

💡 Fun Facts About Steelhead

• ★Steelhead can return to spawn up to 3 times, unlike Pacific salmon that die after spawning
• ★Steelhead can travel over 900 miles from the Pacific Ocean to spawn in Idaho's Salmon River
• ★Great Lakes steelhead were introduced in the 1870s and are now well-established in all five lakes
• ★The fall/winter steelhead runs on coastal rivers are a revered fishing tradition in the Pacific Northwest
• ★Wild steelhead can detect their home stream by the unique chemical signature of its water

🛡️ Conservation Status

Varies dramatically by river — some runs are listed as Endangered or Threatened under the ESA

🔗 Related Species