Comments on: Trout with salmon parents could help to revive endangered fish species

By: gillt

gillt — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:50:35 +0000

Thanks for the write-up. I work with testicular germ cell tumors in zebrafish, so this stuff is my bread and butter.

By: Carrie

Carrie — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:19:58 +0000

Super interesting post. The only thing I’d note is that rainbow trout aren’t likely to go extinct any time soon – they are one of the most ubiquitous and successful freshwater fish species on the planet. In fact their introduction and/or invasion into streams where they were not formerly found can spell trouble for local endemic species, with whom they compete, and sometimes interbreed (e.g, West Slope Cutthroat in the US). Many other salmonids, however, are in trouble, and this technique might help to restore their populations. They’ll have to show that it works for those other species, too, though.

By: Jim Thomerson

Jim Thomerson — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:03:12 +0000

I think the reference is Aspinwall, 1974, but I can’t easily find a copy on line. He had access to a cold-water spring and was raising batches of little salmon in wooden tanks with a flow through system.

By: Jim Thomerson

Jim Thomerson — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 20:54:05 +0000

Some years ago, a colleague was working on salmon genetics. He showed me viable salmon eggs and spern he had collected some months before. I don’t think he was freezing the eggs. I’ll see if I can find the reference to the paper he published.

By: Hu

Hu — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 08:18:23 +0000

Surrogate parents of both sexes… sometimes science gets weirder than science fiction.