The
Bonneville cutthroat trout (
Oncorhynchus clarki utah) is a
subspeciesSubspecies in biological classification, is either a taxonomic rank subordinate to species, ora taxonomic unit in that rank . A subspecies cannot be recognized in isolation: a species will either be recognized as having no subspecies at all or two or more, never just one...
of
cutthroat troutThe cutthroat trout is a species of freshwater fish in the salmon family of order Salmoniformes. It is one of the many fish species colloquially known as trout...
native to tributaries of the
Great Salt LakeThe Great Salt Lake, located in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah, is the largest salt water lake in the western hemisphere, the fourth-largest terminal lake in the world. In an average year the lake covers an area of around , but the lake's size fluctuates substantially due to its...
,
U.S.A.The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Most of the fish's current and historic range is in Utah, but they are also found in Idaho, Wyoming, and Nevada. This species is one of 14 recognized subspecies of cutthroat trout native to the western United States.
Natural history
Bonneville cutthroats are descended from cutthroat trout that once inhabited the Late
PleistoceneThe Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
-aged
Lake BonnevilleLake Bonneville was a prehistoric pluvial lake that covered much of North America's Great Basin region. Most of the territory it covered was in present-day Utah, though parts of the lake extended into present-day Idaho and Nevada. Formed about 32,000 years ago, it existed until about 14,500 years...
of
UtahUtah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, eastern
NevadaNevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...
, and southern
IdahoIdaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
. Since the desiccation of Lake Bonneville into the Great Salt Lake, which is too
saltySalinity is the saltiness or dissolved salt content of a body of water. It is a general term used to describe the levels of different salts such as sodium chloride, magnesium and calcium sulfates, and bicarbonates...
for any kind of fish life, Bonneville cutthroats have been isolated in smaller populations in the headwaters of mountain streams and in lakes of the Bonneville
drainage basinA drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...
. The isolation has resulted in much
phenotypicA phenotype is an organism's observable characteristics or traits: such as its morphology, development, biochemical or physiological properties, behavior, and products of behavior...
variation among populations.
Bonneville cutthroat trout primarily eat other fish, while smaller individuals and to a lesser extent adults consume a lot of insects and various benthic organisms. They spawn near the mouths of streams over gravel substrate in the springtime, having an incubation period of 24 to 25 days.
Description
This fish has sparsely scattered, very distinct round spots over its upper body. They are clothed in subdued colors of silver-gray to charcoal, the upper body having subtle hues of pink on the flanks during spawning. These fish, particularly the
Bear LakeBear Lake is a natural freshwater lake on the Utah-Idaho border in the Western United States. It is the second largest natural freshwater lake in Utah and has been called the "Caribbean of the Rockies" for its unique turquoise-blue color, the result of suspended limestone deposits in the water...
strain, often lack the bright crimson jaw slash that, at times, may be yellow.
Cutthroat and
rainbow troutThe rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout usually returning to freshwater to spawn after 2 to 3 years at sea. In other words, rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the same species....
differ in that cutthroats have basibranchial (hyoid) teeth in their throat between the
gillA gill is a respiratory organ found in many aquatic organisms that extracts dissolved oxygen from water, afterward excreting carbon dioxide. The gills of some species such as hermit crabs have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are kept moist...
arches and behind the tongue. They also typically have longer heads and jaws than the rainbow and often can be distinguished from the rainbow by their larger spots.
Conservation
The Bonneville cutthroat is known to be more vulnerable to anglers because of a general lack of wariness and can be caught on a wide variety of bait. As the only native salmonid of the inland west, cutthroat trout suffered intense fishing pressure for commerce and sustenance from the 1850s through the 1920s. At one time they were so numerous they were considered a nuisance, but today they are on the Utah Sensitive Species List. They are threatened by predation and competition by non-native fish, hybridization with non-native fish (in particular the rainbow trout, resulting in
cutbowA Cutbow is a fertile hybrid between a rainbow trout and a cutthroat trout . While cutbow hybrids may occur naturally, most native populations of rainbows and cutthroats were separated by geography or habitat...
s), and loss of habitat.
In 1997, the Bonneville cutthroat was designated the official
state fish of Utah, replacing the rainbow trout. It was important to the
IndiansNative Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
and the Mormon pioneers as a source of food.
See also
- Fishing in Wyoming
A game fish is any species of fish pursued for sport by recreationalists . The capture of game fish is usually tightly regulated. In comparison, nongame fish are all fish not considered game fish. Game fish may be eaten after being caught, though increasingly anglers are practicing...
- High Uintas Preservation Council