A short while ago, a member of Sierra Wave Media took a picture of about 15 dead and deformed fish. They were abnormally swollen and had 'tumor-like' lumps. 

They sent Andrew Hughan, Public Information Officer for Fish and Game in Sacramento, the photo and he responded. 

“These fish are not representative of what we hope the public identifies as a DFG planted fish. There are always deformities present in nature and in raised fish, especially in the bottom ponds of the raceways where weaker fish tend to congregate. Unfortunately Gull Lake was the recipient of such a group of fish,” he told them.

Well, sure. 

“Often these instances are due to genetic anomalies. The department is seeing more of these abnormalities than in the past due to the recent conversion to triploid fish. When you subject the eggs to the pressures of captive rearing and the triploid process (to obtain sterility) you are in a very small number of cases affecting the physical attributes of the trout.”

Again, sure, but 15 of them all dead on the shore at the same time?

Fish and Game Information Officer responds to deformed fish concern By Benett Kessler, SierraWave.net


Stocking triploid or sterile fish wherever possible, according to CalTrout, because sterile fish grow faster and “provide the kind of angling experience sought by the majority of anglers” is not really going to resonate with sportsmen who catch 15 of these.  Credit and link: SierraWave.net