I caught this fish today. Obviously, it had one underdeveloped skein, but are those fully developed milt sacs along the intestine going to the bottom left? If those aren't milt, what are they?
A little steelhead anatomy help, please...
- Thread starter DerekWhipple
- Start date
Looks like an empty intestine, to the vent?
I see. I thought the only intestine was the darker tube with the veins/membrane. The white around it is also intestine? Guess I caught an early summer fish then.
Yes an early summer steelhead, have seen a number of such fish. The whitish material likely fat deposits, the eggs have nearly a year to fully develop prior to spawning. The fish will deplete that and other fat as the eggs develop and the fish metabolize that and other body fats to stay alive.
Back when Puget Sound had lots of steelhead would see that often in the early summers (as early as mid-February). The other ovary would typically be smaller and potentially less developed and located on the other size o the intestine and fat deposits. The first time an observant angler sees a fish in this condition it understandably causes confusion.
At the other end of the spectrum in the late fall/early winter would sometimes see summer fish whose eggs have turned pale or even a greenish color and beginning to collapse. My theory is those fish had depleted their fat reserves had begun reabsorbing the egg's fat to stay alive. Would see fish in that condition in the 1980s after an especially stressful summers (a longer period of lower and warmer stream conditions). With climate change those conditions have become more common.
Our steelhead are indeed interesting critters!
curt
Back when Puget Sound had lots of steelhead would see that often in the early summers (as early as mid-February). The other ovary would typically be smaller and potentially less developed and located on the other size o the intestine and fat deposits. The first time an observant angler sees a fish in this condition it understandably causes confusion.
At the other end of the spectrum in the late fall/early winter would sometimes see summer fish whose eggs have turned pale or even a greenish color and beginning to collapse. My theory is those fish had depleted their fat reserves had begun reabsorbing the egg's fat to stay alive. Would see fish in that condition in the 1980s after an especially stressful summers (a longer period of lower and warmer stream conditions). With climate change those conditions have become more common.
Our steelhead are indeed interesting critters!
curt
Thanks Curt. Interesting to know that it develops substantial fat around the organs as well. I guess by coincidence all the male fish I have harvested have been winters or late summers, both kinds that would be running lower on their fat reserves. It did have a huge amount of fat in the belly meat.
It had a few. 
Fat.
Lake flyer
Smolt
I suppose if it had some skein then being a female it wouldn't have milt sacs. That all looks like intestine.
Apparently it can happen. First picture in this article is a steelhead with milt and eggs.
https://fishbio.com/hermaphroditic-fish-boy-girl-or-both/
