Little Kern Golden Trout (3″ figure by Replica Toy Fish)

Another 3″ figure from the Replica Toy Fish company, and it is indeed another in the salmon and trout series. Moreover, we are revisiting another western North American trout species, another of the rainbow trout subgroups which is far easier to determine–and much more distinctive. This time it is the Little Kern river golden trout Oncorhynchus mykiss whitei. This species is considered part of the golden trout complex within the rainbow trout species, although the California golden trout Oncorhynchus mykiss aguabonita may be as separate species (O. aguabonita). Taxonomically and physically, the little kern golden trout certainly has features that appear intermediate between the golden trout and the coastal rainbow.

As indicated by the name, this species was originally found in a relatively short stretch of the Little Kern River of about 160 km (100 mi) and it’s tributaries, unable to reach the Kern River by a waterfall. This range is became more limited to a 13 km (8 mi) stretch above a series of other waterfalls that has limited genetic mixing with stocked coastal rainbow trout in the 1960s. Efforts have since reestablished several ‘pure’ populations through removal of introduced species and stocking hatchery fish. As could be surmised, the conservation status of the subspecies is still at risk, listed as Imperiled by NatureServe or Threatened by the ESA. In the early 1900s overfishing was already identified as an issue–the hybridization is just more stress on the subspecies. Ecologically, Little Kern golden trout are similar to other rainbow trout, being active predators in cool streams, but relatively smaller than other rainbow trout variants, normally found at 25cm (10 inches) long.

Another feature that makes the golden trout complex unique is their distinct, bright colouration. The figure has managed to capture that fairly well, although some of the details appear to mix the patterns of the different subspecies. The fish is painted with an olive back and bright yellow sides venter, with the belly unpainted white. This same yellow extends over the caudal peduncle and tail, and part of the dorsal fin (the peduncle should be green). This base colouring is a little broad, but captures the literal golden nature of these fish. The back including the dorsal fin is heavily spotted in small black dots, with these again extending to the tail. Along the lateral line is a deep red horizontal band, reflecting an expected highlight on golden trout, although a little thinner than expected. The cheeks are highlighted in a darker orange, which is also found on the ventral fins. The sides are also marked with large spots. On a Little Kern golden trout, these should be more distinctly parr marks, interspersed with some smaller parr spots. These kinds of shortened parr marks would be more characteristic of the third golden trout subspecies, the Kern River golden trout O. m. gilberti. But overall, the colour is distinctly golden trout of some kind and most closely matches the pattern of a Little Kern golden trout.

The sculpt is very trout like, deeper and heavier than the rainbow trout. The figures is 7.9cm (3.1 inches) long, which would give a scale of about 1:3 for an average fish. As with all most of the figures, the pectoral fins are tightly against the body, while the pelvic fins are are fanned out from very distinct base. The dorsal fin is sculpted high and and broad, with a smaller anal fin below. The adipose fin is rounded and swept back a bit. All fins are marked well with thick fin rays. The head is large and broad, and unusual for RTF, the mouth is slightly open (although blocky with a lot of material within) and slightly downturned. The tail fin is big and broad, very slightly emarginate. The eyes are sculpted as small bumps, with one side painted black, but the other unpainted (again, the paint from this era was not always great). One thing about the figure, the paint is clearly golden trout, but the deep body is more like a larger species like a bigger charr or trout. Maybe if these were still readily available a few repaints could produce different species, but not when the figure is this rare.

And rare it is. As with the other models of the Trout and Salmon releases, these models didn’t last long. And in all cases (except the rainbow trout), the species represented were not only interesting but completely unheard of as figures. And honestly will probably remain that way…forever…since Toy Fish Factory didn’t get to them as planned. It’s too bad, because I think there would be a lot of value in figures like this for promoting conservation and awareness of these less familiar trout (it can’t just be brown, brook, and rainbow trout, not that figures of those are common). So, despite some quibbles with colour pattern and physical appearance, it’s great to see such an uncommon trout in toy form. And next time we’re going to see a few more that even less expected!

UPDATE May 22 – recent information was uncovered that this figure was intended by RTF to represent the Kern River golden trout Oncorhynchus mykiss gilberti. I would still more comfortably assign this figure to the Little Kern due to the more subdued dorsal colours, but the subspecies have a lot in common. As well, the work of Joe Tomelleri was licensed for many of the models from RTF and the colour seen in this figure is much closer to his Little Kern golden trout (though of course not as detailed), compared to his Kern River golden trout (called Kern River rainbow trout on his site).