Are rainbow trout and steelhead the same thing?

Yes, they are the same great-tasting fish!

Their latin name is ‘Oncorhynchus mykiss’ and they are legally labelled as rainbow trout, deep sea trout, steelhead trout or.. steelhead salmon!

If you’re an angler, fishing “steelhead” typically refers to catching a larger trout that spent most of its life in a large lake or ocean.

But at the grocery store, the label is now used interchangeably no matter the size.

We’re not sure why, but we have a few guesses..

In the past, trout that grew on farms like ours tended to be smaller and leaner. They didn’t taste as rich and meaty as the trout we raise today. So perhaps they needed some differentiation back then.

Customers also love new things, and calling it “steelhead” could be a marketing technique to sell more. (Sadly though we’ve found a lot of “steelhead” in the store is imported from Norway or Denmark.)

But how can a trout be a salmon?

Well get ready to be confused, because what we understand as “trout” or “salmon” is often marketing. Most trout are in the salmonid family.

Atlantic salmon is one of the most-farmed fish in the world, so they have given “salmon” a greater name recognition.

Historically, “trout” used to mean fresh water, and “salmon” used to mean salt water. But those lines have become blurred over the decades, and don’t apply anymore.

For those that have ordered both our rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and the coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch – notice how similar the names are), you’ll know they have very similar tastes.

That is, except the brook or speckled trout, which is actually a char. More closely related to our Arctic char than our trout. But we’ll save that for a different post!