Spring 2016 American Currents 30

FISH IN FOCUS: ARCTIC GRAYLING, THYMALLUS ARCTICUS Matt Knepley

Photo by Jason Ching. Used with permission.

Cruising the cold, clear waters of northern-most North mouth Bass). Others get wicked looking (Hello, Sockeye). But America, the Arctic Grayling (Thymallus arcticus) is a mod- no matter what size a Grayling may be, even at its plainest it est-sized game fish on many an angler’s bucket list. While is a pretty fish. When feeling their best they are some of the the largest specimens max out at roughly 30 inches and 8 most beautiful fish on the planet. Lucky are the regions that pounds, the average adult will be somewhere between 6 and call them native sons and daughters; the Arctic and Pacific 14 inches and weigh substantially less. drainages of the US and Canada, as well as several central Ca- So if it isn’t their size, what is it that attracts sportsmen and nadian waters and portions of Wyoming and Montana. women to this fish? Well, for starters, they are spunky fight- For being so consistently attractive, they can be rather ers. What appeals to so many people though is that this is a variable in appearance. Arctic Grayling flaunt a trout-like beautiful fish found in beautiful places. Many game fishes are build, long but muscular. Their mouths are small and their just plain ugly when they get big (I’m looking at you, Large- jaws are toothed. A Grayling’s sides can vary from a silvery-

Arctic Grayling sporting chevron-shaped splotches. (Photo by Andrew Gilham, USFWS) Subtle differences. (Photo by Jim Mogen, USFWS) 31 American Currents Vol. 41, No. 2 Sources: gray, to blue, to almost a pinkish color. The front half of its http://www.alaskapublic.org/2015/07/03/state-will- body is splashed with black spots. Sometimes these spots are discontinue-filling-grayling-in-alaska-lakes/ actually more chevron shaped. Depending on lighting and http://billingsgazette.com/lifestyles/recreation/can- mood, an Arctic Grayling may seem to meld all these char- montana-s-arctic-grayling-hang-on/article_ab93d089- acteristics together at one time. e44c-5025-84e1-6bb59a7ab3a3.html What really sets the Grayling apart is its fins. Adding to http://www.biokids.umich.edu/critters/Thymallus_ its trout-like appearance is a forked caudal fin and a fleshy arcticus/ adipose fin. Pelvic fins sport orangish stripes. Distinguish- http://www.fws.gov/mountain- ing it from the trouts is it gorgeous, long, flowing dorsal fin. prairie/pressrel/2014/08192014_ Female dorsals tend to be rounded while males are more ArcticGraylingDoesNotWarrantProtectionUnderESA.php pointed, but they are all quite spectacular. Like their body http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet. coloration, Grayling dorsal fins can be variable in color- aspx?SpeciesID=943 ation. They may be of a purplish to black background color, http://peninsulaclarion.com/news/2015-12-19/white-spot- with reddish spots occurring between the rays. Towards the disease-kills-arctic-grayling-in-scout-lake end of the dorsal fin electric blue spots morph into streaks Page, L.M., and B.M. Burr. 2011. Peterson Field Guide shaped much like drops of rain that grow and spread as they to Freshwater Fishes of North America North of Mexico. run down the windshield of a car. Second edition. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Co. Like many animals, this fish has seen its fair share of dra- 663 p. ma. On one hand human activities have extirpated it from portions of its original range, such as Michi- gan’s Great Lake drainages, while on the other it has been intro- duced into at least 25 states! Some of those efforts have had a measure of success but most have not. Yel- lowstone National Park is working to restore Arctic Grayling habitat while the State of Alaska recently announced it was reducing Gray- ling husbandry and stocking due to the relative expense of breeding them. The US Fish and Wildlife Service recently ruled that Arctic Grayling in Montana do not war- rant an endangered species listing due to conservation efforts in the area. Rising temperatures in the far north have led to concerns that the water may be too warm to be healthy for them. In at least one Alaskan lake this past summer there was a substantial die-off of large adult Grayling due to white spot disease, ichthyophthiriasis. A proper examination of this beautiful fish would take more space than Fish in Focus has to of- fer. The following resources were Western Hemisphere range map for Arctic Grayling from Montana Field Guide (Mon- used in this brief sketch, consult tana Natural Heritage Program and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. http://fieldguide. them for more information. mt.gov/speciesDetail.aspx?elcode=AFCHA07010