Lady Evelyn's Blue Walleye
The True Story
by Dave Reed
So what's the story about that blue walleye that you caught last year at Lady Evelyn Lake? There is an answer but not without wading through a lot of the misconception that might be involved. Yes, we definitely do have some blue walleye here in our lake. Each year our anglers catch them and then ask us about the weirdly tinted blue and silver colored walleye they released.
Actually both yellow and blue walleye here are the same species. They are just a unique color phase of the species (Sander vitreus). At one point our blue walleye was thought to be a separate subspecies of walleye, but genetic testing showed there is no difference between the bluish walleye and standard yellow walleye. These are simply yellow walleye that lack their yellow pigment, showing a blue/silver color due to a lack of a certain protein in their slime called "sandercyanin". These blue-tinted walleye still caught occasionally in Ontario and Minnesota were never the same "blue pike" that was officially declared extinct in 1983 from the Great Lakes. The blue pike weren't really extinct because they never really existed.
That's right, the extinct "blue pike" had larger eyes and a different, bluish-gray color, but they were genetically the same species as the yellow walleye. Yep, older reports and older fishermen always considered them a separate species, but recent research indicates it was simply a variation influenced by environment or genetics rather than a entirely different species. It may be my imagination but I think the blue walleye in Lady Evelyn seem to have a bit larger tail. Has anyone else noticed that?
Please Save Our Unicorns!
So if you are lucky enough to catch one of our unicorn blue walleye please just take a picture, give it a gentle kiss and put him back in the lake to help keep this unique and beautiful pigmentation going among our Lady Evelyn walleye.
