Confusion as to the identify of Crater Lake fish is apparently a result of the colloquial terminology, poor stocking records, and changes in the fish when land-locked. The name "silversides" is usually applied to the sockeye salmon Oncorhynchus merka, but is often confused with silver salmon, Oncorhynchus kisutch. If silver salmon are reproducing in Crater Lake, in which there has been no stocking since 1940, it would apparently be the first case on record of land-locked kisutch reproducing; otherwise the silver may be gone from the lake.

Three species were reported stocked in the lake; they are the sockeye, the silver salmon, and the rainbow trout. Dr. John Raynor, ichthyologist of the Oregon State Fish & Game Department, identified the fish being caught now as sockeye and rainbows, and at least two other authorities, including Dr. Carl Hubbs, have independently agreed with Dr. Raynor's identification of the lake fish.