Proteomics represents a powerful tool for the analysis of fish spermatozoa, since these cells are transcriptionally inactive.  The aim of the present study was to generate an inventory of the most prominent rainbow trout sperm proteins with the use of  one-dimensional electrophoresis prefractionation combined with performance liquid chromatography electrospray ionization  tandem mass spectrometry. This study provides the first in-depth analysis of the rainbow trout sperm proteome, with a total of  204 identified proteins. We found that rainbow trout spermatozoa are equipped with functionally diverse proteins related to  energetic metabolism, signal transduction, protein turnover, transport, cytoskeleton, oxidative injures and stress and reproduction.  The availability of a catalogue of rainbow trout sperm proteins provides a crucial tool for the understanding of fundamental molecular  processes in fish spermatozoa for ongoing research in the development of novel markers of sperm quality and for the optimization of  short- and long-term sperm preservation procedures.