Second year-class of Arctic grayling eggs arrives from Alaska A striking fish with a sail-like dorsal fin and slate-blue coloration, the Arctic grayling was virtually the only native stream salmonid (a fish of the salmon family) in the northern Lower Peninsula until the population died off nearly a century ago. Three factors contributed to the grayling’s demise in Michigan: habitat destruction, unregulated harvest and predation/competition from nonnative fish species. Since 2016, the Michigan Arctic Grayling Initiative – comprised of the Michigan DNR, the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians and more than 40 other partners – has worked to bring this locally extinct species back to Michigan.