03-05-2003, 08:54 PM
[shocked] Splake are hybrids, and like mules and jennies have all the right parts. The eggs won't fertilize because the chromosomes are never split during meosis back into the normal haploid configuration of either parent. There are a few hybrids where the parent species are very closely related genetically, that can continue to reproduce. Cuttbows come to mind, but I'm not sure if splake are in that same category.
Sterile rainbows are produced by heat shocking the eggs during the 8 to 16 cell stage of development, and a few of them can still reproduce. If they use enough heat, they get 100 percent sterility, but they destroy a lot more eggs than they sterilize. They also sometimes get a tetraploid fish, which has 4 sets of chromosomes, that they spawn with a diploid (two chromosomes) and those offspring are triploids. Triploids (three sets of chromosomes) are not capable of reproducing. They have started testing sterile lake trout, but I haven't heard where they are planning to stock them.
Fishrmn
[signature]
Sterile rainbows are produced by heat shocking the eggs during the 8 to 16 cell stage of development, and a few of them can still reproduce. If they use enough heat, they get 100 percent sterility, but they destroy a lot more eggs than they sterilize. They also sometimes get a tetraploid fish, which has 4 sets of chromosomes, that they spawn with a diploid (two chromosomes) and those offspring are triploids. Triploids (three sets of chromosomes) are not capable of reproducing. They have started testing sterile lake trout, but I haven't heard where they are planning to stock them.
Fishrmn
[signature]