User:Brianj2077/sandbox

Rainbow Trout Behavior

What are They: Rainbow trout, or Oncorhynchus mykiss, is a type of cold water fish related to the Atlantic Salmon. The rainbow trout is native only to the rivers and lakes of North America, west of the Rocky Mountains, but its value as a hard-fighting game fish and the taste of it's meat has led to its introduction throughout the world. Rainbow trout, also called redband trout, are a very vibrantly colored fish, with coloring and patterns that vary widely depending on habitat, age, and spawning condition. They are torpedo-shaped and generally blue-green or yellow-green in color with a pink streak along their sides, white underbelly, and small black spots on their back and fins. It gets its name by the rainbow like colors.

Typical Behavior:

== Habitat: Rainbow trout prefer Cold headwaters, creeks, rivers, cool lakes, estuaries and oceans are habitats used by different populations of Oncorynchus mykiss. But, the ones who spend their entire life solely in freshwater are known commonly as the rainbow trout. Rainbow trout prefer rocky bottom's of deep lakes and naturally occurring pools in small streams and rivers. They are commonly found in fast moving waters, usually in rapids, with an ideal water temperature around 55-60 F. They also like cover, such as downed trees, to hide behind and get out of view from predators. ==

Food Habits
Rainbow trout are very opportunistic feeders. There is no specific type of food they prefer. They will eat any fly or bug on the surface of the water. In a river ecosystem, their primary diet consists of mayflies and caddis flies and their larvae. They have been known to eat salmon eggs during the salmon spawning season. In a large lake, they like to feed upon small baitfish such as smelt or shiners.

Spawning Season:
The timing of the spawning season is variable depending on the location. They tend to spawn in the fall, around November and December, but in warmer climates they will spawn in the early spring. They will lay their eggs on a rock or gravel bottom of a lake or slow moving stream or river. Once the egg is fertilized, it will be buried underneath the rock to protect them from predators. They will lay anywhere between 200 and 12,000 eggs at a time, depending on the specific species of the rainbow trout. They begin to hatch at three weeks and will continue to hatch until five weeks after fertilization.