Although two completely different species, both trout and salmon are closely related to one another.
In fact, Pacific salmon are part of the same genus as trout, and although they have different habits from their closest relative, they are nevertheless related.
The closest relative to the Pacific salmon is actually the Atlantic steelhead, which is merely a rainbow trout that has migrated into the Atlantic Ocean to grow up.
Are Trout and Salmon the Same?
Trout and salmon are not the same species of fish, they are within the same family but exist in two separate genera.
Trout are considered to be freshwater fish, while salmon is considered to be anadromous. Fish that are known to be anadromous, spend part of their life growing up in the ocean.
There are a number of different genera of fish within the family that are considered to be anadromous as well, but they are not as closely related to salmon as rainbow trout are.
Atlantic salmon are part of the Salmo genus, while trout are part of the Oncorhynchus genus. Pacific salmon which includes sockeye, chinook, as well as chum are also part of the Oncorhynchus genus.
Are Trout A Type of Salmon?
Salmon and trout are part of the same family of fish, but they are part of two separate genera.
As a general rule, the main difference between trout and salmon is that salmon are generally considered to be anadromous, meaning that they are born in freshwater, grow up in the ocean, and return back to the freshwater to spawn. Virtually all of the trout species spend their entire lives living in freshwater.
Only a few species within the trout family are known to spend parts of their life in the ocean. The closest relative to the salmon is the rainbow trout, which is known to spend part of its life out at sea. When the rainbow trout migrate to sea in order to grow up, they are referred to as Steelhead.
What Trout Turns into Salmon?
There was a day when it was believed that trout would eventually turn into salmon after going out to sea. However, this was merely a belief and was not founded on any scientific facts.
Although it is true that some rainbow trout migrate out to sea to grow up, we often refer to the ocean-living trout as a steelhead. The steelhead is the closest relative to the salmon in the trout family, which is where the misconception usually comes from.
Nevertheless, both salmon and steelhead are two completely different species of fish and therefore cannot turn into one another.
Can Trout Look Like Salmon?
Rainbow and steelhead are closely related to the salmon, and as a result, the flesh of the two are often mistaken for one another.
While rainbow trout have a paler colored flesh, steelhead has a brightly colored orange flesh that cooks in a similar manner to that of salmon. In fact, it is fairly common to substitute steelhead trout in many salmon recipes.
The greatest difference between the two comes down to the thickness of the fillet cuts, in which steelhead are considered to be thinner and smaller in size.
Is Trout A Young Salmon?
Although part of the same family of fish, a trout and a salmon are very different. Salmon can be easily distinguished from trout because of their streamlined shape, slimmer and concave tail, as well as their upper jaw that reaches to the back of the eye.
At the same time, salmon have very few black spots visible below the lateral line. Even at a younger age, it is still easy to distinguish a trout from a salmon.
Cross Between Trout and Salmon?
Because both trout and salmon come from the same family, it is common for the two to mate with one another.
The most common cross between a trout and a salmon is when an Atlantic salmon mates with a brown trout, which is more commonly referred to as a sea trout.
These hybrid trout-salmon species are able to develop very quickly and have been shown to out-compete both trout and salmon in the wild. However, the vast majority are sterile and cannot reproduce any further generations of hybrids.
Are Salmon and Trout Freshwater Fish?
Both salmon and trout begin their life and end their life in freshwater. While the vast majority of trout will spend their entire life in freshwater, a few species will make their way out into the ocean where they can grow to substantially larger proportions than their freshwater brethren.
All salmon on the other hand are anadromous, meaning that they are born in freshwater, and grow up in the ocean, before returning back to the freshwater rivers they were born in.
Do Salmon Mate Every Year?
Salmon are born in freshwater lakes and rivers and make their way out to the ocean where they spent most of their adult life.
Once they come of age, Pacific salmon will return back to the river they were born from, as part of the annual salmon run.
There they will spawn, and take care of the nest for several weeks, but will eventually perish after mating only once. Atlantic salmon, on the other hand, are able to spawn for several years in a row, returning back to the Atlantic Ocean after each season.
As a result, most salmon raised in hatcheries, are Pacific salmon as there is a need to manage the population’s decline.
Do Trout Mate Every Year?
Steelhead is one of the few anadromous species in the entire trout family. Unlike rainbow trout, they do not spend their entire life in freshwater, rather they make their way out into the Atlantic Ocean where they grow up and live year-round.
The only difference between steelhead and rainbow trout is that one is freshwater, and the other lives in the ocean. When compared to salmon, steelhead can breed for several years in a row.
While most salmon perish after spawning only once, steelhead will make their way back out to the ocean several more times.