Tiger Trout Observations in Maryland

Type: Nontidal
Region: Central
Location: Deadman Run, Baltimore County

The department has received several questions about tiger trout in Maryland streams. The tiger trout (Salmo trutta � Salvelinus fontinalis) is a hybrid of the brown trout (Salmo trutta) and the brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). The name derives from the pronounced vermiculations, which evoke the stripes of a tiger. Maryland does not stock tiger trout, but there have been several observations of "naturally occuring" tiger trout hybrids resulting from interbreeding of brown trout and brook trout in Maryland streams.

Mark Staley from the Central Region of Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Inland Fisheries divison submitted this photo of a naturally occuring tiger trout from Deadman Run in Baltimore County. Mark and his crew have seen tiger trout in multiple streams in the Gunpowder watershed. Al Klotz has also collected naturally occuring tiger trout in Western MD, where both wild brook and brown trout inhabit the same stream - the Savage River tailwater, the North Branch Potomac River, and in Hoyes Run.