Baja California rainbow trout
{{Short description|Subspecies of fish}}
{{subspeciesbox
| name = Baja California rainbow trout
| image = San Pedro Martir Trout, Ensenada, Ensenada, BC , MX imported from iNaturalist photo 8336604.jpg
| status =
| genus = Oncorhynchus
| species = mykiss
| species_link = Rainbow trout
| subspecies = nelsoni
| authority = Evermann, 1908{{ITIS |id=553430 |taxon=Oncorhynchus mykiss nelsoni |accessdate=18 February 2014 }}
| synonyms =
}}
The Baja California rainbow trout or San Pedro Martir trout or Nelson's trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss nelsoni) is a localized subspecies of the rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), a freshwater fish in the family Salmonidae.
Baja California rainbow trout is one of many species of Mexican native trout.
Distribution
It is endemic to headwater tributaries of the Rio Santo Domingo in the Sierra de San Pedro Mártir mountain range of the Peninsular Ranges System, located in Baja California state on the northern Baja California Peninsula.{{cite book |title=The Quiet Mountains-A Ten-year Search for the Last Wild Trout of Mexico's Sierra Madre Occidential |author=Johnson, Rex Jr. |publisher=University of New Mexico Press |location=Albuquerque, NM |year=2005 |isbn=0-8263-2273-5 |chapter=The Trout of Mexico |pages=9–19}}{{cite book|author-link=Robert J. Behnke |author=Robert J. Behnke |year=1992 |title= American Fisheries Society Monograph |volume=6 |publisher=American Fisheries Society |location=Bethesda, Maryland, United States |isbn=0-913235-78-4 }}
Taxonomy
=19th century=
The first records of trout in northwestern Mexico were published by paleontologist E. D. Cope in 1886 where he describes two specimens from Chihuahua as having the appearance of Salmo purpuratus a name sometimes incorrectly used for cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki).{{cite book |title= About Trout: The Best of Robert J. Behnke from Trout Magazine |pages=97–102 |chapter=Mexican Golden Trout |publisher=Globe Pequot |author-link=Robert J. Behnke|year=2007 |isbn=978-1-59921-203-6 |last=Behnke|first=Robert J.|author2=Williams, Ted}} In 1898 and 1905, naturalist E. W. Nelson with the U.S. Biological Survey led explorations into the Mexican mainland (1898) and Baja California Peninsula (1905) to document flora and fauna.
=20th century=
In 1908, preserved specimens of trout that Nelson brought back from the Rio Santo Domingo (Santo Domingo creek) in the Sierra de San Pedro Mártir mountains of Baja California were described by ichthyologist B.W. Evermann as a new species Salmo nelsoni, the Baja rainbow trout.
In 1989, morphological and genetic studies indicated trout of the Pacific basin were genetically closer to Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus species) than to the Salmos–brown trout (S. trutta) or Atlantic salmon (S. salar) of the Atlantic basin.{{cite journal |url=https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140998/1/fsh0004.pdf |title=The Classification and Scientific Names of Rainbow and Cutthroat Trouts |journal=Fisheries |volume=14 |number=1 |year=1989 |publisher=American Fisheries Society |pages=4–10 |doi=10.1577/1548-8446(1989)014<0004:TCASNO>2.0.CO;2|last1=Smith |first1=Gerald R. |last2=Stearley |first2=Ralph F. |bibcode=1989Fish...14a...4S |hdl=2027.42/140998 |hdl-access=free }} Thus, in 1989, taxonomic authorities moved the rainbow, cutthroat and other Pacific basin trout, including the Mexican native trout into the genus Oncorhynchus.{{cite book |last=Behnke |first=Robert J. |author-link=Robert J. Behnke |author2=Tomelleri, Joseph R. (illustrator) |title=Trout and Salmon of North America |publisher=The Free Press |isbn=0-7432-2220-2 |year=2002 |pages=10–21 |chapter=Genus Oncorhynchus }} Thus Salmo mykiss nelsoni became O. m. nelsoni.
=21st century=
Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes recognised Baja California rainbow trout as a species, Oncorhynchus nelsoni Evermann 1908.{{Catalog of Fishes|genus=Oncorhynchus |species=nelsoni |access-date=3 July 2024}}
See also
{{Portal|Mexico}}
- {{C|Endemic fauna of Mexico}}
- {{C|Fauna of the Baja California Peninsula}}
- {{C|Freshwater fish of North America}}
References
{{Reflist|26em}}
{{Rainbow trout}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q4848786}}
Category:Endemic fauna of the Baja California Peninsula
Category:Endemic fish of Mexico
Category:Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges
{{Salmoniformes-stub}}