All-Natural Frankenfish Found in Erie

All-Natural Frankenfish Found in Erie
By D. Averell Poisson
Pittsburgh Post Gazette Science Editor
April 1, 2011
Erie -- Two giant steelhead fish that locals are calling Frankenfish have been found dead on the shores of Lake Erie in recent months. A fish found by an angler near the mouth of Elk Creek in March measured just over 40 inches long with a weight of about 27 pounds.
According to PA Fish an Boat Commission biologist, Dr. Sam Trutta the extra large steelhead was a bit of a sensation among the local fishermen, but did not make the headlines since no one could take credit for catching it and claiming a PA state record.
The fisherman who found the fish, Tom Eakins of Meadville, reported that the fish seemed to exhaust itself trying to swim upstream through extremely shallow water at the mouth of Elk. “He’s so big he couldn’t hardly find water deep enough, and he just died trying,” Eakins said at the time. Eakins tried to force feed the fish back to health, but his efforts failed.

“Good thing the local WCO took and froze a tissue sample from the fish,” said Trutta. “Before he donated the fish to a local charity that accepts fish and game to feed the needy, he gave the sample to me for analysis.”

An earlier  giant steelhead was found in January during a period of low flow at the mouth of 12-Mile Creek west of Erie. This one measured just under 40 inches with an official weight of 26.6 pounds. Some teenagers found the fish as they walked along the beach near their parents’ vacation home. Their father, a Pittsburgh lawyer who asked not to be named in this article, said that the fish appeared to have been dead for some time, but was well preserved because of the cold weather.

“We were fortunate that the father called me directly to tell me of the huge fish,” said Trutta. He put it in a freezer chest until I could pick it up. Two fish of such amazing size gave me an opportunity to do some genetic testing on tissue samples from both fish.”

Over a period of several weeks, Trutta and a second team at Penn State under the direction of Len Lotic, PhD, worked independently on the tissue samples. Drs. Trutta and Lotic will publish their findings in the May edition of The Journal of Salmonid Genetics.

The two teams concluded that both of the large fish have a previously unknown variant of gene CYR61 on chromosome 6p. This reporter asked both scientists to tell me in plain English what this gene and chromosome do.
In a telephone interview, Dr. Lotic said, CYR61 is one of the genes that governs growth. “Since both of these fish have the same variant that I’ve never seen before, I postulate that it may be the sole reason these two fish were so **** big.”

During an interview at his office in Harrisburg, Dr. Trutta  revealed that the genetic records of parent fish from the year class  three years ago seemed to point to the origin of these two Frankenfish.
“You see, we didn’t know if there could be other big fish like these out there, when the mutation happened, if it was a recessive or dominant, if it will now be part of our steelhead gene pool. I had a lot of questions.”
Trutta’s review of the males and females used to produce the class of fish three years ago indicates that a number of the fish showed the variant in the same gene but not the giant size.
“It must be a recessive mutation that has been carried by a few of our fish for some time. Three years ago, by chance, the right female and right male came together at the hatchery, then Bingo. These are not some genetically engineered Frankenfish, these are all-natural. We have Supersteel. I have the records, and I think I can even tell you the date it happened.”
The two scientists are amazed that a steelhead could put on so much weight in just three years. Dr. Lotic speculates that these large fish may be the reason that steelhead runs in the past three years have been smaller than usual. “We have been blaming the loss of smolts on the walleyes in Lake Erie. Maybe it is these huge Supersteelhead that are vacuuming up the smolts.”
Both scientists agree that the records show the CYR61 - 6p variant is spreading through the Erie steelhead population. Records for the class of smolts two years ago show that the number of breeding fish with the gene variant has grown roughly by the power of two. In last year’s class of breeding fish, the variant had again grown by a power of two.
A fisherman friend of mine asked the Fish abd Boat Commission biologist what this means for the average steelhead fisherman in Erie. He said that only time will tell, but he expected a shift toward increased fishing in the lake during the fall and spring steelhead runs. “These fish are just too [expletive deleted] big to make it up our small streams during low water,” he said. “Everybody wants to catch a Supersteel. I expect folks will be changing from 10-lb. test to 30-lb. next fall.”
The PA Fish and Boat Commission is already making plans to change its steelhead rearing procedures.  Commission Spokesman, Ralph Chunks, says they are going to monitor closely the breeding stock during the next five years to limit the number of fish with the variant gene. The Commission wants to insure survival of enough smolts to keep the normal steelhead fishery healthy.
Erie County business owners, on the other hand, are urging the Commission to keep the Supersteel coming. “Once word gets out that we have 30-pound Supersteel, man, it will be great for business,” said local bait shop owner, Gary Heubel.






hOOK shy! to John Malsh and his Coop Nursery Story.

pics or it didn't happen.

ORIGINAL: albud1962

All-Natural Frankenfish Found in Erie
By D. Averell Poisson
Pittsburgh Post Gazette Science Editor
April 1, 2011
Erie -- Two giant steelhead fish that locals are calling Frankenfish have been found dead on the shores of Lake Erie in recent months. A fish found by an angler near the mouth of Elk Creek in March measured just over 40 inches long with a weight of about 27 pounds.

I noticed the April 1 date right away. Uh, and the author's name is a misspelling of the French for April fool. Nice try though.

http://www.cactuslanguagetraining.com/us/french/view/beware-the-poisson-davril/

As soon as I saw Sam Trutta I knew it was fake. Salmo Trutta = brown trout.

i thought that a "frankenfish" was a giant snakehead...not a giant steelhead...a giant steelhead would be sweet...i hope they reproduce and were all catching 30-40 lb steelhead in a couple years

I totally missed the hidden April Fool's hints.  You guys nailed it!

http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/magazine/so04/indepth/