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Posts: 58
| Maybe u guys can help me out, last year I caught a nice prob. 42 in fish. Only to realize I had ran into the same fish less than a year before. It only had one eye that was kinda glazed over, but the first time I caught him he was really nice healthy lookin fish with sum real nice markings. But the 2nd time he he was really dark green none of the markings were visible just a real dark green almost blackish look to it! My question is knowing it was the same fish , what would cause it to turn such a drastically different color in a relative short amount of time. Just curious if maybe it was sick or somethin and was wonderin if the other fish I'm after would have a chance of ending up the same way! Or maybe it's just somethin that happens in time that I'm just not aware of. Caught the first time early fall the second time was last summer prob around June. Has anyone else seen this happen to a familiar foe? |
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Posts: 369
| Fish can change colors I have a aquarium with many different types of fish in it and over he corse of the year instead of being silvery they have become grey with stripes. I wouldn't be surprised if a Muskie could either change colors or gain stripes but I wouldn't rule it out |
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Posts: 20179
Location: oswego, il | Are you certain it was the same fish? Would be cool to see pictures. |
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| I think it has to do with water clarity, and possibly light exposure. In turbid, murky water, the (mostly northern strain) fish I see have almost no markings. In clearer water, the markings tend to be more evident. BTW, I change color with light exposure, too. First I turn reddish, and it then becomes brown... After a long, sunless winter I look as pale as a dead muskie...
Edited by Chemi 4/15/2015 7:06 AM
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Posts: 4343
Location: Smith Creek | In the river I fish the little guys are heavily barred and the adults are clear. Some hang on to their bars a little longer but they all fade. |
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Posts: 397
Location: Wisconsin | one factor I know of is that fish that spend their time in shallower water tend to be darker, and more defined. And real clear light colored fish tend to spend most of their time in deeper water. |
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Posts: 462
Location: Antioch, IL | in a very brief nutshell....Most all cold blooded creatures skin contains color changing/size changing/light reflecting cells called chromatophores. Some creatures are very evolved and have a rapid physiological color change (Chameleons, squid, cuttlefish, octopus) and use the color changes in many ways (camouflage, as a distraction to predators, to confuse prey). In others (like the muskie) it is more of a morphological color change (mainly changes in the density of chromatophores) and is more of an adaptation to their background used as camouflage. Not much is known about how these cells actually work, but it seems that the changes within the cells are related to the animal vision and how sees it's surroundings. That info is translated by the cells and the animals color adapts.
I used to import saltwater fish and got interested in this subject when I brought in some cuttlefish. If you ever get a chance to watch these guys change color as they hunt it is amazing. |
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Posts: 8717
| We fish a few coffee colored lakes, and the fish we catch are that same color. It doesn't matter if they are perch, pike, bass, they are all nearly black in color. The fish in the lake down the street that has a moderate stain are much lighter in color. The fish in the clearest lakes seen to have the most vivid markings out of all of them. Muddy water fish are generally pale in color and have much less distinct markings. Some of the coloration we see in muskies is due to that particular strain of fish (Wisconsin green muskies vs barred vs spotted) but it seems like more often than not you can predict what the fish will look like by the color o the water.
I don't know if that's an adaptation to their surroundings or if it's just evolution at work, i.e. dark colored fish survive better in dark colored water. I've always wondered about this. If you take one of the black fish and put it in a clear lake would it eventually turn lighter? If you took a light colored fish and put it in dark water would it eventually lighten up? Does the tannic stained water actually absorb into the tissues of the fish and give them that color? |
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Posts: 4343
Location: Smith Creek | http://muskie.outdoorsfirst.com/board/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=87...
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Posts: 8717
| They do change their color some in regards to their environment. I've seen this with bass from time to time, when you pull them out of certain areas the markings are pretty well defined, and when you put them in a livewell or a bucket the markings fade almost immediately. There is some amount of camouflage that they are able to change. Store bought suckers will change to a darker colored hue after a day in a sucker cage. Fresh caught suckers will change to a lighter color in the livewell...
But how does it all work?
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Posts: 462
Location: Antioch, IL | esoxaddict - 4/21/2015 11:17 AM
If you take one of the black fish and put it in a clear lake would it eventually turn lighter? If you took a light colored fish and put it in dark water would it eventually lighten up? Their color will adjust to their new surroundings. (to what degree will vary depending on the species and the individual) Both water color/clarity and the structure they are on will have an influence.
Does the tannic stained water actually absorb into the tissues of the fish and give them that color? No, their cell density changes which affects their coloration |
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Posts: 20179
Location: oswego, il | Dave, need I remind you again, they are cuttlefish, not cuddlefish! |
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