Researcher: 'Two-Mouthed' Trout Caused by Injury, Not Genetics

Researcher: 'Two-Mouthed' Trout Caused by Injury, Not Genetics

By Algis J. Laukaitis

Source: underwatertimes

2/8/2006

Clarence Olberding of Lincoln thought he had the catch of the day when he hooked a trout with two mouths. But a Harvard University researcher who examined the severed fish head said the unusual deformity was caused by an injury and not a genetic mutation.

“Our preliminary analysis of the ‘two-mouthed’ trout revealed that the condition was caused by an injury to the fish earlier in its life, rather than a genetic repeat or other mutation,” wrote James Lee, a research fellow at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology.

Lee said it appeared that a muscle in the trout’s mouth was severed in the past, causing thin membranes between the lower jaw bone and the floor of the mouth to split. He said that caused the floor of the mouth to drop.

“This gives the appearance of two jaws. It also results in the fish having no practical floor to its mouth,” Lee wrote in an e-mail.

Despite the odd condition, Lee wrote, the trout appeared to be in good health and was able to live, feed and grow to adult size. The fish came from a Nebraska fish hatchery.

Olberding, 57, caught the unusual trout at Holmes Lake in December. The trout had a normal mouth and another one below it that led nowhere. He snapped photos of the fish and then cut off the head and put both pieces in the freezer.

Holmes Lake

Trout, Rainbow

Continue...

News Id		Source	Stamp	country
3426	After poll, lawmakers will propose Lake Erie favorite as Ohio’s state fish	wkbn	2021-10-14	US
3427	Mystery beast with no eyes, ears or mouth stuns diver in depths of the Red Sea	mirror	2021-10-15	EG
3428	U.S. Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka cited for fishing without commercial crew license	adn	2021-10-08	US
3429	Parks Commission expands coastal wetland restoration to Boyer’s Creek	Niagara This Week	2019-02-19	CA
3430	Now properly classified, this tiny, translucent fish could help unlock our brains’ secrets	Texas Standard	2021-10-05	US
3431	Fishing record revoked in Connecticut	fox	2021-09-29	US
3432	Fisherman breaks nearly 30-year-old record in Florida	foxnews	2021-10-12	US
3433	Alligator gar caught in Kansas for the first time ever	foxnews	2021-10-13	US
3434	Rare fish, last spotted in Ohio creek in 1957, declared extinct	yahoo	2021-10-06	US
3435	Who or what is killing the bass in Green Lake?	Star Tribune	2021-10-06	US
3436	State backs limited fishing of goliath grouper	fox13	2021-10-06	US
3437	How to Keep a Small Aquarium Without Being Cruel to the Fish	lifehacker	2021-09-27	US
3438	Britain angers France over fishing boat licences	rte	2021-09-28	IE
3439	Fish fertilize corals and seagrasses but not the way you think	flu	2021-09-28	PA
3440	How illegal fishing off Cameroon’s coast worsens maritime security	theconversation	2021-09-29	CM
3441	Female cleaner fish can judge when to cheat without getting caught	newscientist	2021-09-30	ID
3442	How to save an endangered fish? Eat their enemies, say N.S. conservation groups	CBC News	2021-10-01	CA
3443	Grantham couple upset after pet fish of 30 years killed following otter attack	granthamjournal	2021-10-04	UK
3444	San Marcos fish recommended to be declared extinct by U.S. government	kxan	2021-10-04	US
3445	British Teenager Catches Behemoth 96-Pound Wels Catfish	fieldandstream	2021-09-24	UK
3446	Fishing on the L.A. River without a pole	theeastsiderla	2021-09-26	US
3447	The redfish fishery is returning. So is angst about quotas	CBC News	2021-10-16	CA
3448	Less Than 50 Sockeye Salmon Return to Idaho’s Red Fish Lake	newsradio1310	2021-10-11	US
3449	Alaska’s vanishing salmon push Yukon River tribes to brink	opb	2021-10-02	US
3450	Jeremy Wade on the ‘weirdest’ creature he had crossed paths with	entertainment	2021-09-27	US

137 of [223 - pages.]