Fur-bearing Trout
Location: North America and Iceland.
Time: 17th century reference by a Scottish Immigrant, Icelandic stories published in 1900, earliest significant hoax in 1929.
Hoaxes play an ever-present role in cryptozoology, from harmless tall tales to genuine ruses intended to fool the public. On par with taxidermy hoaxes such as the jackalope and skvader, is the fur-bearing trout.
Said to be a cold-water dweller that insulates itself with a coat of white fur, the most famous instances of fur-bearing trout are in reality, just plaque-mounted fish with rabbit fur glued onto them. Icelandic folk tales describe a similar creature, said to be inedible, and a punishment for mans wickedness. One possible true origin for these myths and hoaxes may be the Saprolegina “cotton mold” that can infect fish, and continues to grow after the fish has been killed by the infection. The result may be a inedible fish cast ashore that seems to be covered in whitish filaments. So, in reality, this series of legends and hoaxes may be based on an innocent mis-interpretation of a totally unrelated natural phenomenon.
One actual marine fish, the Mirapinna esau, IS covered in skin-based filaments that excrete a bad-tasting substance to repel predators, perhaps if a real fur-bearing trout did exist, its pelt would serve a similar purpose. The Fur-bearing Trout (Pilosalmo borealis) is in fact only distantly related to proper trout, being a primitive Salmoniforme. It is most commonly found in freshwater lakes and rivers in northern Europe, Canada, and the northern United States, they are generally non-anadromous, spending their whole lives in freshwater. Ideally, they prefer the deeper cold water afforded by deep lakes and large rivers. Being predators of smaller fish and aquatic invertebrates, they use their hair-like coating partly as camouflage in order to ambush prey. Being around 40 to 50 centimetres long on average, they mainly avoid predation due to their thick coating of hair-like skin-outgrowths, which secrete noxious mucus that is foul tasting and bad smelling. Other fish of similar size are predated upon by birds, bears and large salmon, but the fur-bearing trout’s natural defences leave it mostly safe from predators. Breeding habits are mostly unrecorded for this fish, but may be similar to non-anadromous salmonids generally.
Location: North America and Iceland.
Time: 17th century reference by a Scottish Immigrant, Icelandic stories published in 1900, earliest significant hoax in 1929.
Hoaxes play an ever-present role in cryptozoology, from harmless tall tales to genuine ruses intended to fool the public. On par with taxidermy hoaxes such as the jackalope and skvader, is the fur-bearing trout.
Said to be a cold-water dweller that insulates itself with a coat of white fur, the most famous instances of fur-bearing trout are in reality, just plaque-mounted fish with rabbit fur glued onto them. Icelandic folk tales describe a similar creature, said to be inedible, and a punishment for mans wickedness. One possible true origin for these myths and hoaxes may be the Saprolegina “cotton mold” that can infect fish, and continues to grow after the fish has been killed by the infection. The result may be a inedible fish cast ashore that seems to be covered in whitish filaments. So, in reality, this series of legends and hoaxes may be based on an innocent mis-interpretation of a totally unrelated natural phenomenon.
One actual marine fish, the Mirapinna esau, IS covered in skin-based filaments that excrete a bad-tasting substance to repel predators, perhaps if a real fur-bearing trout did exist, its pelt would serve a similar purpose. The Fur-bearing Trout (Pilosalmo borealis) is in fact only distantly related to proper trout, being a primitive Salmoniforme. It is most commonly found in freshwater lakes and rivers in northern Europe, Canada, and the northern United States, they are generally non-anadromous, spending their whole lives in freshwater. Ideally, they prefer the deeper cold water afforded by deep lakes and large rivers. Being predators of smaller fish and aquatic invertebrates, they use their hair-like coating partly as camouflage in order to ambush prey. Being around 40 to 50 centimetres long on average, they mainly avoid predation due to their thick coating of hair-like skin-outgrowths, which secrete noxious mucus that is foul tasting and bad smelling. Other fish of similar size are predated upon by birds, bears and large salmon, but the fur-bearing trout’s natural defences leave it mostly safe from predators. Breeding habits are mostly unrecorded for this fish, but may be similar to non-anadromous salmonids generally.