For those of you who missed the memo, ichthyologists removed rainbow trout/steelhead (now Oncorhynchus mykiss) from the genus Salmo in 1989 to place it in the genus Oncorhynchus, that of the Pacific salmons. This was done because a survey of morphological characteristics showed a much closer affinity with Oncorhynchus than that with the genus Salmo (Atlantic Salmon and Brown Trout). This is also true of the cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki).
Whitefish and grayling may be salmonids but they are not included within the genus Oncorhynchus, rainbows and steelhead are. In this country pen-raised rainbows who never so much as sniffed saltwater are often sold as steelhead.
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