Tiger trout
| Tiger trout | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota | 
| Kingdom: | Animalia | 
| Phylum: | Chordata | 
| Class: | Actinopterygii | 
| Order: | Salmoniformes | 
| Family: | Salmonidae | 
| Subfamily: | Salmoninae | 
| Hybrid: | Salmo trutta × Salvelinus fontinalis | 
The tiger trout (Salmo trutta × Salvelinus fontinalis) is a sterile, intergeneric hybrid of the brown trout (Salmo trutta) and the brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). Pronounced vermiculations in the fish's patterning gave rise to its name, evoking the stripes of a tiger. Tiger trout are a rare anomaly in the wild, as the parent species are relatively distantly related, being members of different genera and possessing mismatched numbers of chromosomes. However, specialized hatchery rearing techniques are able to produce tiger trout reliably enough to meet the demands of stocking programs.