Well, The culling process started last night and to my surprise, I had to cull a HBG (male, I think) that probably had a relative weight that was off the charts. This cute little buggar was 5 inches long and weighed about 1/3 pound. He now resides in the creek along side the FHM that turned into a grass carp.
The Cliffs Notes version is that there are several types of skeletal deformities found in fish, some have a genetic component, some have a developmental component, and some can be traced to both. The pictures were helpful.
In the absence of Relative Weight charts on HBG...I have used one for regular BG and it turns out that I have successfully grown a fish with a RW of 333%. That's got to be some kind of record!
Here is one from my BOW. To my eye, it looks disproportionate but its probably not. If it were to gorge on high $ pellets everyday for a few months, its body might outgrow its tail.
I think I would have removed the fish as well. My concern would be that the condition is a genetic "dwarfism" and would not want the fish reproducing in my pond.
The ultimate goal in my pond is to grow large HBG not record RW by defect. Although I do think about the uniqueness of stubby and somewhat regret taking him out. He certainly looked dwarfed and not injured and partially recovered.
I’ve noticed some of my f2 hbcp exhibit similar characteristics/deformities as the hbg originally posted. Guessing it’s and expression of inbreeding depression.
Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~ Henry David Thoreau
I e-mailed my fish supplier with photos of "stubby" and the one with the overbite and this was their response...
"Hello Noel Any time humans mess with mother natures true intentions abnormalities will occur. Green sunfish females mated with Male bluegill create a man made hybrid. This is normal and approximately 2 percent will present strange characteristics. Odd but true.... Let me know if you have any questions about concerns. They hybrids are over 90 percent males."
If all 500 HBG survived the stocking...I have another 8 fish in the pond that are "special".
QA your HBG could be F1...or could be any generation. I have had issues historically sourcing "pure" F1 HBG. I suspect the continued inbreeding and successive generations the inbreeding depression characteristics become more prevalent. While I don't lose sleep over my hybrid F2, F3 etc. despite the abnormalities in my fisheries, it's still pretty interesting to witness the "mutations".
Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~ Henry David Thoreau
Here is one from my BOW. To my eye, it looks disproportionate but its probably not. If it were to gorge on high $ pellets everyday for a few months, its body might outgrow its tail.
Pretty fish. Sometimes we take panfish for granted because they are numerous & usually easy to catch, but they are works of art.
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