The original WV Golden trout was a mutant RAINBOW...how did it becom an entirely new Pure Strain Golden if it is a mutated gene RAINBOW...later crossed with Rainbows in PA...there is no new line here...all are mutated Rainbows.
Just because they're all mutated rainbows doesn't mean they'll be the same as a rainbow genetically. I wouldn't call them a seperate species, I think they'd be better described as a subspecies or a breed of rainbows. The first example that comes to mind for a similar situation is the Jack Dempsey Cichlid, a popular, agressive aquarium fish. There is a brightly blue colored variation available a very nice looking fish but from everything I've read they're different from the standard strain beyond just color. Instead of being agressive, they're reportedly a very timid fish and very few of them make it to adulthood as they seem to be particularly susceptible to disease. Just because the golden rainbows are bred to look different doesn't mean that'll be the only way they'll be different than the rainbow. I do agree with you that that doesn't make them a different species, but I think they are a unique genetic strain of rainbow trout that is different beyond color.
I understand what you're saying. A lot of this may just be semantics. I agree that golden Rainbows are being bred for the color but regardless, it is still a Rainbow trout that simply has defferent coloring due to a genetic defect...Why would a Golden Rainbow be thought of as a new species , but an Albino Channel Catfish is not? They are both pure strains, with mutated (defective) genes The Albino is also a genetic mutant, and bred for the trait just as the golden Rainbow is.
The Jack Dempsey Cichlid, as I recall, is a Hybridized fish of several species combined... not from a mutated gene....this is a whole other situation as again the Golden Rainbow is not a hybrid fish.
The reason I wouldn't say they are a unique strain is because when two Golden Rainbows are bred, just like when two Albino CC are bred. the original, non-mutated Rainbows or albinos will also be produced.
Golden Rainbows are not found in the wild, probably because the couldn't survive due to the colors Just as Albino deer or catfish are found in the wild, but quickly succumb to predation because they stand out to the predators. Albinism is just a far more common genetic defect that an odd color defect.
As for the behavior of the golden Rainbows in a pond, the color they have changes how they behave in a more natural setting. The brighter coloring negates all the natural camofauge and prey can see the Golden from a greater distance than a normal Rainbow so in order to survive, the golden has to more agressively chase prey if it hopes to eat...that same color make the golden more easily seen by predators also so in order to not be attacked/seen as often by predator fish, it move higher in the water column, because it's white belly offers some camoflauging when seen from below...The behavior is a theory as it can't be truly known, but pausible because in the hatchery setting, there is no notable behavior difference in golden and normal rainbow trout.
Marvin Emmerson of Crystal Lake Hatcheries is the man that explained all this to me. His family has raised and developed trout strains for well over 50 years and are the producers of the Emmerson strain of Rainbows and they are also the producers of the very brilliantly colored Golden Rainbow Trout some have recently posted pictures of.
