Two-mouthed fish heads to Harvard

 3 comment(s)  
 E-mail Story
 Print Story
  Share

 digg it!
 Facebook
 del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit

Text Size: 

Tools Sponsor

BY ALGIS J. LAUKAITIS / Lincoln Journal Star

No one from Clarence Olberding’s family ever made it to Harvard, but now his two-mouthed trout will get the chance. James Lee, a research fellow at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology, called Olberding Thursday to ask if he would donate the unusual catch.  Related story: A fish with two mouths?

“I’m interested in seeing what the actual jaw anatomy is,” Lee said in a phone interview. He wants to know if the jaw is truly a second jaw or the result of an injury.

“If this is an actual duplication of a set of genes, it’s very interesting,” Lee said. “It  will teach us a lot about jaw development in fish, but ultimately, it may lead to some discoveries of jaw formation in humans.”

[+]Enlarge

(Courtesy Photo)

(Courtesy Photo)

Olberding, 57, caught the fish Saturday at Holmes Lake. The trout has a normal mouth and another one below it that leads nowhere.

After snapping photos, he cut off the head and put both pieces in the freezer. The 40-year fisherman plans to smoke and eat the trout.

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission fisheries officials speculated the deformity may be the result of a genetic mutation. They also said it would be OK to eat the fish.

Olberding plans to ship the head to Harvard next week. It will eventually be on display, crediting Olberding with the donation and the catch.

The two-mouthed trout has captured worldwide attention, thanks to the Internet. Newspapers and Web sites worldwide have picked up the story.

And Olberding has been in demand. Among his many calls was one from a California radio talk show. He did the live interview Thursday.

“I wish I would have kept it intact and had it mounted,” he said, “but I think it’s going to the right place.”

Reach Algis J. Laukaitis at 473-7243 or alaukaitis@journalstar.com.