TROUT IN DOUBT\Does state have new species? Experts disagree.

Byline: Brett Pauly

Attention Southland anglers. When you dip your lines into area creeks and rivers you may just be luring a new subspecies of trout, a rainbow that has broken from the evolutionary ladder and formed aseparate, distinctive lineage.

Or at least that's what a trout-conservation group would have us believe. The state Department of Fish and Game isn't convinced.

More research is required before making such a bold assessment, before adding a Latin coda to Oncorhynchus mykiss, but it's certainly thought provoking to consider Southern California home to its own native breed of redside.

The argument stems from the prominent parr marks - the large, reddish-black badges - on adult rainbows in local waters. Most trout lose their parr marks as young fish.

California Trout, better known as CalTrout, the overseers of several wild and native trout waters, maintains that the parr marks on mature rainbows signal a significant break from their brethren.

"We don't know enough and probably will never know enough to figure out exactly what happened, but there is something unique going on here," said CalTrout executive director Jim Edmondson of Shadow Hills. "Why couldn't our local trout be a different subspecies of rainbow?

"When trout aficionados around the world think of a trout stream, it is unlikely they think of one with a yucca tree next to it. Maybe that will change."

There is certainly no doubt the redsides that swim in Big Tujunga Canyon, Lytle Creek, San Antonio Creek, Bear Creek, Piru Creek, City Creek outside San Bernardino, the middle fork of the Santa Ana River and all three forks of the San Gabriel River are beautiful, healthy specimens.

Brilliant red pigmentation over the lateral line (how the rainbow get its moniker), heavily spotted from tip to tail, red and white patterns on the leading edges of the lower fins and those gorgeous parr marks.

On first blush, some veteran fishers mistake it for a golden trout, which also has prevalent parr marks late in life. Closer inspection reveals that the local rainbow has a paler abdomen and is more uniformly spotted than the golden, with its remarkable red or yellow belly.

But adult parr marks alone do not a new subspecies make, according to Dwayne Maxwell, a senior biologist with the DFG in Long Beach.

"That's a very dangerous statement without genetic research to back it up," said Maxwell, who seldom hears arguments for a new trout subspecies status. "We simply don't know."

The pronounced parr marks may have stemmed from similarly tattooed forebears transplanted from Northern California hatcheries nearly a century ago, he said. Local fishing clubs may have even planted fingerlings more recently.

Therefore, the DFG maintains, the local trout are wild - the self-sustaining progeny of planted fish - not native.

Indeed, Edmondson noted, rainbows were dumped from mobile hatcheries built into railroad cars around the turn of the century, but so were cutthroat trout and nary a one of them remains.

Perhaps the native rainbows outlasted their planted sisters and brothers, he argued. Besides, there is literary evidence of trout fishing in local waters as early as the 1870s.

"We know that trout don't fly, so what were those?" Edmondson pondered. "Our theory is that they were planted by Mother Nature 10,000 years ago."

How else could area rainbows prevail in such inhospitable conditions - dry, hot summers that raise water temperatures in excess of 80 degrees, often lethal to other rainbows, and long periods of drought that require them to adapt to the stagnated waters of the deepest pools - Edmondson asked?

"These much-forgotten Southern California rainbow trout have learned to establish a niche that only they can survive and prosper in," he said.

What about the fact that some regional rainbows don't sport parr marks?

"All fish have variations," the ever-prepared Edmondson said.

It's a notion that will be debated for years to come, one that requires complicated studies of genetic composition, habitat considerations such as food sources and water flows and other changes that took place over an eon.

An angling friend of mine says the point of native vs. wild is silly. "They're fish, and they're fun to catch," he said.

But, who knows, maybe someday the Southland will become a blue-ribbon destination for trout anglers eager to hook into our hardy rainbows.

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DRAWING[ordinal indicator, masculine]PHOTO

Photo (1--color) Alaska rainbow Mulchatna River (2--color) Local rainbow Big Tujunga Canyon (3--color) Montana rainbow Madison River Joe Contaldi Daily News Drawing (1--color) Common Rainbows are heavily dotted and named for the red pigmentation over the lateral line. (2--color) Local rainbows have heavy parr marks along the lateral line. most trout lose the marks as young fish. Jorge Irribarren/Daily News