Sheepheaven Creek redband trout | |
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Subspecies: | O. mykiss ssp.?
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The Sheepheaven Creek redband trout is a local Californian variety of the rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), a freshwater fish in the family Salmonidae. It is considered either a distinct western form of the McCloud River redband trout (subspecies Oncorhynchus mykiss stonei),[1] or a subspecies of its own, which has not been scientifically named and described yet.[2] It is native to Sheepheaven Creek, Siskiyou County, California, United States.[3][4] It has been transplanted into Swamp Creek in 1972 and 1974 and into Trout Creek in 1977. They can now be found in both locations.[5] Sheepheaven Creek redband are found to be the most distinct anatomically among all other western North American trout[specify] groups, and therefore has been suggested to merit recognition as a new subspecies.[2][6][7] A key diagnostic character is that they have the fewest gill rakers of any western trout.[8]
Sheepheaven Creek is used as the type locality of O. m. calisulat Campbell and Conway 2023,[9] a taxon restricted in distribution the McCloud River drainage upstream of McCloud Falls. In this taxonomic scheme, Sheepheaven Creek is one of several genetically pure populations of a distinctive lineage of rainbow trout.