I hope I can get this to work. Not sure how to make the pics bigger
Pic pic WAUSAU, Wis. -- This is indeed a fish story � not about the one that got away, but about a rare one.
A white muskellunge is swimming in the waters of Lake Tomahawk, a northern Wisconsin lake in Oneida County. State fisheries experts captured it in nets during a population survey in April and released it back into the lake.
"I've never seen nor heard of an albino muskie, so it's an unusual fish to say the least,'' said John Lyons, a longtime fisheries researcher for the state Department of Natural Resources in Madison.
The nearly 33-inch long, 8-pound muskie had white skin but with a slight greenish tint, said John Kubisiak, a DNR fish biologist who was with the netting crew that handled the fish.
Muskies typically are silver, light green or light brown with dark, vertical bars along their long bodies.
Albino muskieWisconsin Dnr
Cory Painter, an officer with the Madison chapter of Muskies Inc., said Friday the discovery of the white muskie created some buzz among anglers.
"I think it would be pretty cool to catch it,'' said Painter, a 36-year-old angler who's caught about 100 muskies in his fishing ventures.
He'll have to wait for it to grow, though.
Anglers can keep muskies caught in inland Wisconsin lakes only if the fish measures at least 34 inches long. If the albino muskie is female, it could grow to more than 50 inches long and weigh more than 40 pounds, Painter said.
John Kubisiak caught an albino muskie.
"Even if I caught it and it was 50 inches, I would still get a picture and release it back because I would rather have someone else catch it,'' he said.
Lyons said he believes the Oneida County fish is an albino, although it had a small amount of pigment in its eyes and around its head.
"I'm not sure there's an official definition of an albino fish,'' Lyons said. "In nature, there can be a continuum of levels of pigmentation, and I've seen specimens of some species that are intermediate in pigmentation between normal and fully albino with pink eyes.''
The muskie that was netted was close to the fully albino end of the spectrum, he said.
Albinism is rare but occurs normally, particularly in Wisconsin whitetail deer or a squirrels, Lyons said.
Steve AveLallemant, the DNR's northern regional fisheries coordinator, said the white muskie was 3 to 4 years old.
"It was healthy,'' he said. "It might be a freak of nature. I don't know how else to explain it.''
He said no one knows whether other white muskies could be swimming in the 3,600-acre Lake Tomahawk.
"If it was the only one, he was darn lucky to catch it,'' AveLallemant said, referring to Kubisiak's netting crew.
