I'm rainbow trout. Please don't call me freshwater salmon.

"I am rainbow trout, although China is not my hometown, but such as Huairou in Beijing, Lijiang in Yunnan, Qingcheng Mountain in Sichuan, such beautiful places can always see my fresh figure, my face is high, the meat is good, fried and stewed everything. However, I heard that someone called me a freshwater salmon. I just want to say, hehehe…"

The "curved nose" salmon genus

Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), salmon family salmon salmon genus (Pacific salmon genus) a fish, English name rainown trout. Native to northern North America and the west coast of the Pacific Ocean, most populations live in cold freshwater environments throughout their lives, but there are also some subspecies commonly known as "steelhead trout" that live in fresh water and seawater in different seasons and have migratory spawning characteristics.

Rainbow trout (O. Mykiss's photo ID card. Photo: shutterstock.com

Oncorhynchus is derived from the Greek onkos (hook) and rynchos (nose), meaning "curved nose," because when these fish migrate upstream during the breeding season, not only do their body colors change greatly, but the male's back bulges and the upper and lower jaws change into hook shapes.

This is why the genus is also known as the "salmon genus." Most of the "hardhead trout" migrate back to the sea after spawning, but other species of salmon usually migrate only once in their lives and die slowly after mating and spawning. Migratory salmon brought back a lot of nutrients from the ocean, completing the cycle of matter and energy in nature,"things go away, hidden merit and name."

The hooked jaws of male salmon during the breeding season are extremely prominent. Yeah, you know, the guys in the documentaries who get abused by brown bears. Photo: theketaarecoming.com

Young stripes are beautiful, adult looks are high

Rainbow trout is a carnivorous fish. It mainly feeds on zooplankton and aquatic insects in its juvenile stage. Adult fish prey on small fish, crustaceans, terrestrial and aquatic insects. The fish body is spindle-shaped, usually blue-gray or brownish-yellow on the back, with small black-brown spots scattered all over the body, silver-white abdomen, and 10 oval deep spots on the side of the juvenile fish body.

Young rainbow trout with beautiful flecks on the sides. Photo: arkive.org

A juvenile of the rainbow trout subspecies California golden trout (O.m.aguabonita) that is more brightly colored. Photo: arkive.org

There is also a kind of rainbow trout called "golden trout" in China. In fact, it is an albino rainbow trout that has been artificially bred and expanded. The body color is bright golden yellow, and the adult fish has red or pink longitudinal bands on the side of the body.

Juvenile of albino rainbow trout. Photo: arkive.org

Adult rainbow trout in streams can grow to about 40 cm long, while individuals inhabiting large lakes and migratory types can grow to more than 80 cm long. The male's jaws curve during breeding, and the iridescent pink stripes on the sides from gills to tail become more colorful, hence the name rainbow trout.

Male rainbow trout in love season "dress up". Photo by Erik Hanson

It's too pretty to be true.

Salmonids mostly have orange or orange flesh and roe, as do rainbow trout. The colour comes from a carotenoid called astaxanthin, which salmonids obtain by eating small crustaceans. Astaxanthin is orange in free state, so it is also called astaxanthin. The reduced astaxanthin generated after digestion is enriched in muscle cells to make salmon meat appear orange.

Atlantic salmon (salmon) orange-red flesh. Photo: shutterstock.com

Unlike other fish, which store astaxanthin only in ovaries and body surfaces, salmonids also accumulate astaxanthin in muscle cells. Different species of salmon metabolize astaxanthin differently, so the fish shows different degrees of red. As mentioned above, red salmon (O. nerka) is deep red, Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) is orange red, humpback salmon (O. Gorbuscha) is pink, rainbow trout is a light orange.

Cultured salmon have no chance to prey on crustaceans in their natural environment, so synthetic carotene can only be added to artificial diet in order to increase the color of fish meat.

Salmon? You can't scream if you want.

Rainbow trout meat color and salmon similar, so many places simply called rainbow trout freshwater salmon, alpine cold water salmon, tube whitening rainbow trout called golden trout salmon, sounds tall like a strengthened version of salmon, and "live fish kill eat you cool, fresh taste seconds kill ice fresh" to play rainbow trout sashimi. I really want to applaud these intelligent merchants.

Salmon is derived from Salmon, originally Latin for salmo, a North Atlantic fish that migrates annually to the upper reaches of European coasts to spawn and leap over waterfalls. Later, the great god Linnaeus designated the scientific image of this fish as "salmo salar", which is now the Atlantic salmon of the genus Salmon.

The first contact with Atlantic salmon was Hong Kong and Taiwan. Since its English name is Atlantic salmon, just as you know "strawberry" is actually strawberry,"Salmon" is transliterated into "salmon" by strong Cantonese accent. Salmon is not a scientific name, but a generic trade name. Because of the historical reasons mentioned above, salmon refers to Atlantic salmon in Chinese context. The most famous is Norway seafood salmon, according to the origin of different, there are similar Atlantic salmon products such as Australian seafood salmon, Scottish seafood salmon and so on.

Salmon farms in Norway. Photo: theketaarecomming.com

Salmon also refers to many species of salmon. That's because European colonists who arrived on the American continent during the Great Voyage were surprised to discover that there were many species of fish that looked similar to "Salmon" along the Pacific coast, changed their body shape and body color at different stages, and migrated to lay eggs. Therefore, lazy cancer broke out, saving trouble to call this pile of fish "Pacific Salmon". In order to further distinguish and add the characteristics of origin and morphology before the general term, there are many species of salmon such as Pink salmon, Coho salmon and Sockeye salmon.

Although there is "Salmon" in English names, Chinese usually translates into XX salmon, such as Chinook salmon called emperor salmon, Coho salmon called silver salmon, etc. In fact, these Pacific salmon do not need to be called XX salmon to increase their popularity, because the real high-quality wild Pacific salmon is much more expensive than Atlantic salmon, but China rarely imports it.

Some species of pacific salmon (breeding season). Photo: arkive.org

Although rainbow trout and the above species of fish belong to the Pacific salmon genus, the common English name of rainbow trout is rainbow trout, so the concept of "Salmon" common name, rainbow trout is excluded. Trout refers to a group of salmon (Pacific salmon) and salmon that complete their entire life cycle in fresh water and do not migrate across salinity, as rainbow trout does (especially land-locked Atlantic salmon and migratory hardhead trout, which are breeds based on individual populations with extremely narrow natural distributions and are insufficient to influence commercial varieties formed by artificial selection). Therefore, farmed rainbow trout should never be called "freshwater salmon".

In fact, the combination of the words "freshwater salmon" is very strange and funny. This is not just a problem of translation, but a story full of commercial interests. After rainbow trout was introduced into China for breeding, the yield was very high, supply exceeded demand, and the price was much lower than salmon. Merchants made profits from the concept of "freshwater salmon" by hyping it. In many tourist attractions, they even sold much higher prices than salmon. Moreover, it was not uncommon for rainbow trout albino individuals to be artificially bred and bred. The so-called golden trout was not more expensive than ordinary rainbow trout.

Artificial breeding of cultured albino rainbow trout. Photo: wikiwand.com

Can rainbow trout be eaten raw?

Since it was labeled "freshwater salmon" by merchants, the best way to eat it naturally was to eat sashimi like salmon. Wait, rainbow trout can't be eaten raw! Freshwater fish and shrimps are usually not eaten raw. They may carry a variety of parasites, such as Schizocephalus platynodus, Paragonimus, Clonorchiasis sinensis (commonly known as liver fluke), gnathostoma, etc. Raw freshwater fish are more or less at risk of infection, and soy sauce, horseradish sauce, and white wine are simply not enough to kill these parasites. Neighboring Japan also has the habit of eating raw salmon, such as cherry salmon and rainbow trout, and has even become a local specialty. Of course, as a specialty, there is also a risk of infection with parasites, so some of these salmon will be frozen in advance.

Strictly speaking, not only freshwater fish, but also marine fish that have lived in fresh water and brackish water are not suitable for eating raw, even wild salmon in migratory stages. Wild salmon caught at sea may also be infected with Anisakis and Schizocephalus. The good news is that these parasites are biologically complex and intolerant to freezing. Marine fish imported through regular channels are usually frozen at low temperature (usually-35℃ for 15 hours or-23℃ for one week) according to regulations, so raw food is relatively safe. The salmon cages are also equipped with bird isolation facilities, which block the transmission of parasites through bird droppings, so the safety factor is higher. Wild salmon taste good, farmed Atlantic salmon is safer.

How to distinguish salmon from rainbow trout?

Since merchants will use rainbow trout as salmon to make sashimi for sale to customers, such as some cafeterias, revolving sushi restaurants or tourist attractions, what we see is only finished products, is it difficult to tell whether they are salmon or rainbow trout? Here are a few steps that might help you.

First, look at the color of fish meat: salmon is usually bright orange-red, while rainbow trout meat color is darker, orange is lighter. However, the meat color of high-quality rainbow trout with higher breeding level can be very similar to salmon...

Common rainbow trout sashimi. Photo: flikrhivemind.net

Second, look at the shape of the slice: the taste of rainbow trout is far less tender than salmon fat, rainbow trout thick cut will chew, so rainbow trout sashimi are mostly cut very thin, salmon soft and tender, rainbow trout is more chewy. What if the merchant is stingy and cuts the salmon thin and can't taste it...

Third: look at the muscle fat layer: salmon meat is white stripes, salmon muscle fat layer is usually clear and hypertrophic, especially salmon belly parts, rainbow trout is not obvious. But there are also fattening rainbow trout...

High quality rainbow trout sashimi, muscle fat layer is still not obvious. Photo: visitgunma.jp

Salmon belly, intermuscular fat layer obvious. Photo: shutterstock.com

Choosing a good restaurant is especially important. Raw rainbow trout is risky because we are not the man at the top of the food chain.

Rainbow trout is actually a very good fish, suitable for most cooking methods. Rainbow trout has the unique flavor of salmon, high fat content, delicate taste and chewy meat, especially suitable for frying, of course, steamed, braised and shabu hot pot is also good. Finally, send a few pictures of delicious food to nourish your eyes.

Rainbow trout hotpot. Photo: sakuravillage.jp

This is an article from the 2016 Table Species Calendar from Species Calendar Author @ SAYU.

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