Variations ....

The combinations of color, shape and form found in nature is a source of fascination and wonder to me. Why do some organisms exhibit cookie cutter sameness while other life forms seem to display themselves in a wide variation of chroma? The more I explore and learn in life, the more questions I find myself asking about what I see and questioning the things I thought I knew and understood. An enigma I’ve thought about lately is the variation of color we find in Salmo trutta. Some brown trout exhibit bright scarlet in the spots across their flanks, in their adipose fins and in their caudal rays. Brown trout in other regions exhibit a bright tangerine color in place of red. What are the influences in this color variation? Water chemistry? Genetics? PH? I’m perfectly content to not have all the answers to these questions in life and nature and am happy just to remain in a state of wonder, awe and admiration. Other times I find myself investigating these questions and talking to people that know more than I do about these matters. Pictured this week is a wild brown trout from a Pocono Mountain region Class A Wild stream that exhibits bright orange marking in place of the more common red variation. Till next week ….. www.ramsayflies.com #ItsAboutTheFish