Spring is a season representing a period of transition in nature. It can feel like fall in the early morning and summer in the evening on the same day!
Our planet’s great seasonal machine kicks into yet another gear as Spring arrives with all the trappings of its personality.
A major ingredient of the season are the changes that you see in water habitats—like ponds thawing out and creek edges melting and becoming more mucky. Many have thoughts of fish and water critters, most notably trout and our state fish, the Brook Trout.
Formally, the fish is the Eastern Brook Trout because it is native to eastern North America. But this may come as a surprise to you…the fish is technically a member of the Salmon Family and is considered a Char! (Yes, you read that right!) This means its closest cousins include the Lake Trout and Arctic Char. It is common practice to call this fish a trout, just like some people call the cardinal the “red bird.”
The genus name Salvelinus is derived from an old name for Char. The species name fontinalis means “of springs.” Brook Trout are sometimes called Speckled Trout, squaretails, or just “brookies.”
And the “brookie” has the notoriety of being the state fish for most of Pennsylvania’s surrounding states including New Jersey, New York, Virginia, and West Virginia. Now that’s some serious nature cred!
You’ll find this fish inhabiting large and small lakes, rivers, streams, creeks, and spring ponds. It prefers clear waters of high purity and a narrow pH range, and it is sensitive to poor oxygenation, pollution, and environmental changes such as acid rain.
Once you see the fish, you’ll know why it was chosen as a state fish. According to the PA Fish and Boat Commission’s “Gallery of Fish”:
“The Brook Trout’s general body color is dark-green. Looking closer, its back is dark olive-green or gray-green, mottled with dark, squiggly or wormlike markings from head to tail. The sides and belly shade lighter, sometimes with green, gray or even lavender tones, and additional irregular marks. The sides also have scattered red dots, surrounded by bright-blue halos. The belly is usually pale yellow-orange, with a blackish or gray streak down the middle. The pectoral, pelvic and anal fins are pale to bright-orange with a white leading edge followed by a black stripe. There are dark blotches on the dorsal and caudal fins.”
As you can read, it is a fine-looking fish!
The size of the fish can vary in the wild from five inches to 18 inches in length. In fact, a female Brook Trout that is over 18 inches long might produce around 4,000 eggs!
The fish can be found in Pennsylvania as wild populations and locally in the Susquehanna and Delaware River watersheds. Both watersheds comprise the landscape of Schuylkill County. Brook Trout are also found throughout the state as hatchery-raised, stocked fish.
The Northern Swatara Cooperative Trout Nursery is maintained by Bob Evanchalk of Pine Grove. The nursery is on Bob’s farm and is close to Sweet Arrow Lake County Park. Bob takes pride in the fact that fish from the nursery “provides an opportunity for people of all ages to enjoy fishing and the county park.”
Trout nurseries are important as the habitat of wild Brook Trout has been greatly reduced in Pennsylvania since European settlers arrived, due to land-use changes, warming and silting of streams, and other pollution and stream habitat degradation.
These Schuylkill County streams have good reputations as trout habitat:
- Lower Little Swatara Creek
- Bear Creek
- Cold Run
- Pine Creek
- Red Creek
- Schuylkill River
This spring, enjoy the warmer and more intense rays of sunlight—all the while enjoying our many miles of good fish habitat.
Image: Jay Fleming/US National Park Service (Public domain)
About the Author: “Porcupine Pat” McKinney is a part-time environmental education coordinator for the Schuylkill Conservation District and provides programming for people of all ages with a special emphasis on schools, nature center development and public programming.
“Porcupine Pat” is originally from Marion, Ohio and holds a Bachelor’s of Science degree with Distinction in Natural Resources with an emphasis on Environmental Interpretation from The Ohio State University.
He is a recipient of the prestigious Sandy Cochran Award for Excellence in Natural Resources Education from the Pennsylvania Forestry Association in 2005, the 2007 Schuylkill Pride Award, the 2010 Schuylkill Outdoors Personality of the Year and a recipient of the 2013 PA Association of Environmental Educators “Outstanding Environmental Educator Award.”
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