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The first specimens of Rio Mayo trout were obtained in March
of l975 by Peter Warren, University of Arizona
graduate student. While on an ecology field course
trip, Warren purchased 4 small specimens of trout from a
fisherman who had caught them below the Cascada de
Basaseachi, an 850 foot waterfall on the Rio Mayo.
There are still only a handful of museum collections of Mayo
trout, and almost nothing is known of the ecology of this
species. It is similar to the Rio Yaqui trout (both
have an interrupted red or pink lateral band), and may be
conspecific with the Yaqui trout from the rios Papigochic
and Tomochic.
Some scientists suggest that the Mayo trout derives from southern
Yaqui trout, perhaps as a result of the Mayo headwaters eroding into
the Yaqui basin and capturing a tributary of the Rio Yaqui.
It is possible that the trout below the Cascada de Basaseachi
are different still, having had the potential to interbreed with
ancient invasions of coastal rainbows.
Trout in the mainstream of the Rio Mayo are few, purportedly because
of dewatering of the river and overfishing. One must make the
effort to visit the cold, clear headwaters of the Mayo to find these
pretty native trout. As in so many other Pacific watersheds,
rainbow trout "grow out" facilities are increasingly common in the
Mayo drainage, hence hybridization poses a threat to the purity of
these native trout. |
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