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Fur-bearing trout: the bizarre folklore fish covered in fur (and the weird truth behind it) [1]
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Date: 2025-05-21
Add this one to your list of 20th-century Americana weirdness: the fur-bearing trout, a legendary fish said to grow a thick pelt of fur to survive frigid waters. This urban legend has made its way through folklore, satire, hoaxes, and museum shelves for over a century. Someone has even created an entire website dedicated to the fur-bearing trout.
These so-called "furry trout" are part of both American and Icelandic folklore. The earliest American publication about the creature appeared in a 1929 issue of Montana Wildlife, where author J.H. Hicken described a furry trout that exploded upon being caught, leaving behind a perfect, commercially usable fur pelt and a clean, ready-to-eat fish carcass — efficient and eco-friendly!
Although there is no basis in reality for fish that grow fur, two very real, and very icky, scientific explanations exist. One involves Saprolegnia, a cotton-like fungal infection that gives fish a moldy, furry appearance (and kills them). The other is the Mirapinna esau, a bizarre deep-sea creature with hairlike outgrowths and wing-like fins, but it's not a trout.
This hasn't stopped museums from getting in on the fun. The Royal Museum of Scotland has a "fur-bearing trout" on display. In reality, it's a regular trout adorned with carefully glued rabbit fur by a prankster taxidermist named Ross C. Jobe. Whether you chalk it up to fungal infections, icy river tall tales, or America's long tradition of delightful animal hoaxes, the fur-bearing trout swims proudly in the waters of our collective weirdness.
See also: Woman in court for sex with trout
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