Rainbow Trout

🗺️ Habitat

Cold, clear streams, rivers, and lakes with high oxygen content. Steelhead form migrates to the Pacific Ocean and returns to freshwater to spawn.

🔍 How to Identify Rainbow Trout

• 1Pink to red lateral stripe running from gills to tail
• 2Black spots on body, fins, and tail
• 3Blue-green or olive back fading to silver sides and white belly
• 4Adipose fin (small fleshy fin between dorsal and tail fin)
• 5Spots denser on the upper body and become larger toward the tail

🍽️ Diet

Insects, crustaceans, worms, small fish, and fish eggs

💡 Fun Facts About Rainbow Trout

• ★Rainbow trout can jump up to 6 feet (1.8m) to clear waterfalls during upstream migration
• ★Steelhead rainbow trout travel hundreds of miles from ocean to their birth streams to spawn
• ★They are one of the most economically important aquaculture species in the world
• ★Wild rainbow trout require pristine water quality — their presence indicates a healthy stream
• ★The coloring intensifies dramatically during spawning season in males

🛡️ Conservation Status

Varies by population — some native populations are threatened while hatchery fish are abundant

🔗 Related Species