The Colorado River cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki pleuriticus) is a subspecies of cutthroat trout native only to the Green and Colorado River basins, which are west of the Continental Divide. Cutthroat trout found in other river basins belong to other subspecies.
In the past, this subspecies was found throughout portions of the Colorado River drainage in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. However, today scientists believe this fish occupies 13% of its historic range (Range-Wide Status of Colorado River Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii pleuriticus): 2005).
A young Colorado River cutthroat
Colorado River cutthroats are thought to have occupied the basin of upper Muddy Creek, a tributary of the Little Snake River (which ultimately flows into the Colorado River) in southern Carbon County, Wyoming. Historical accounts in letters and diaries refer to them as "mountain trout" or "speckled trout." The fish may have begun to disappear from the upper Muddy Creek in the 1850s as a result of physical changes made to the environment by travelers, the introduction of the brook trout and other non-native species, and possibly the over-trapping of beavers, which affected dams and dependent habitats.
A distinct lineage of Colorado River cutthroat trout known as the San Juan cutthroat was also found in the San Juan River and its tributaries, and was identified in 2012 by genetic testing of two specimens collected in 1874 near Pagosa Springs. While feared extinct, 8 isolated populations were discovered in and around the San Juan National Forest in mid-2018. Shortly after the rediscovery of the San Juan cutthroat, their remnant populations were threatened by the 416 Fire, which was closing in on their remaining habitat. In response, 58 San Juan cutthroats were removed from two remote creeks north of Durango and are being held in hatcheries, with the ultimate goal of captive breeding and reintroduction.[2][3]
Conservation
Rangewide Conservation Agreements and Management Strategies are in place for this species.[4]
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management, Little Snake Conservation District, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Trout Unlimited have successfully reintroduced Colorado River cutthroat into the Little Snake River basin. Efforts have included improving stream habitat and removing non-native species.
Trout is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera Oncorhynchus, Salmo and Salvelinus, all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the family Salmonidae. The word trout is also used for some similar-shaped but non-salmonid fish, such as the spotted seatrout/speckled trout.
The Teton River is a 64-mile-long (103 km) tributary of the Henrys Fork of the Snake River in southeastern Idaho in the United States. It drains through the Teton Valley along the west side of the Teton Range along the Idaho-Wyoming border at the eastern end of the Snake River Plain. Its location along the western flank of the Tetons provides the river with more rainfall than many other rivers of the region.
The rainbow trout is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coastal rainbow trout(O. m. irideus) or Columbia River redband trout (O. m. gairdneri) that usually returns to freshwater to spawn after living two to three years in the ocean. Freshwater forms that have been introduced into the Great Lakes and migrate into tributaries to spawn are also called steelhead.
The cutthroat trout(Oncorhynchus clarkii) is a fish species of the family Salmonidae native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean, Rocky Mountains, and Great Basin in North America. As a member of the genus Oncorhynchus, it is one of the Pacific trout, a group that includes the widely distributed rainbow trout. Cutthroat trout are popular gamefish, especially among anglers who enjoy fly fishing. The common name "cutthroat" refers to the distinctive red coloration on the underside of the lower jaw. The specific name clarkii was given to honor explorer William Clark, coleader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
The Californiagolden trout (Oncorhynchus aguabonita or Oncorhynchus mykiss aguabonita), is a species of trout native to California. The golden trout is normally found in the Golden Trout Creek, Volcano Creek, and the South Fork Kern River. The Golden trout is the official freshwater state fish of California since 1947.
The Bonneville cutthroat trout is a subspecies of cutthroat trout native to tributaries of the Great Salt Lake and Sevier Lake. Most of the fish's current and historic range is in Utah, but they are also found in Idaho, Wyoming, and Nevada. This is one of 14 or so recognized subspecies of cutthroat trout native to the western United States.
The Alvord cutthroat trout, Oncorhynchus clarkii alvordensis, was a subspecies of cutthroat trout. It was known only from Trout Creek in Oregon and Virgin Creek in Nevada, although it may have lived in several of the larger Alvord Basin streams during recent times. It was native to spring-fed creeks that ran down to Alvord Dry Lake in southeast Oregon, which was a large lake during the ice ages and an isolated drainage, part of the Great Basin today. This is one of the two cutthroat trout taxa considered extinct because all known populations are hybridized with rainbow trout which were introduced into streams in the Alvord basin in the 1920s, resulting in cutbows.
Lahontan cutthroat trout is the largest subspecies of cutthroat trout, and the state fish of Nevada. It is one of three subspecies of cutthroat trout that are listed as federally threatened.
The Yellowstone cutthroat trout is a subspecies of the cutthroat trout. It is a freshwater fish in the salmon family. Native only to a few U.S. states, their original range was upstream of Shoshone Falls on the Snake River and tributaries in Wyoming, also across the Continental Divide in Yellowstone Lake and in the Yellowstone River as well as its tributaries downstream to the Tongue River in Montana. The species is also found in Idaho, Utah and Nevada.
The greenback cutthroat trout is the easternmost subspecies of cutthroat trout. The greenback cutthroat, once widespread in the Arkansas and South Platte River drainages of Eastern Colorado and Southeast Wyoming, today occupies less than 1% of its historical range. It is currently listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. It was adopted as the state fish of Colorado on March 15, 1994, replacing the unofficial rainbow trout.
The Snake River fine-spotted cutthroat trout is a form of the cutthroat trout that is considered either as a separate subspecies O. c. behnkei, or as a variety of the Yellowstone cutthroat trout. The fish takes its common name from its original habitat, the Snake River of southern Idaho and western Wyoming, and from its unusual pattern of hundreds of small spots that cover most of its body, differing from the larger-spotted Yellowstone cutthroat pattern. Genetically, it cannot be distinguished from the Yellowstone cutthroat trout, and before the construction of dams, no physical barriers were between the ranges of the two subspecies in the Snake River drainage.
The westslope cutthroat trout, also known as the black-spotted trout, common cutthroat trout and red-throated trout is a subspecies of the cutthroat trout and is a freshwater fish in the salmon family of order Salmoniformes. The cutthroat is the Montana state fish. This subspecies is a species of concern in its Montana and British Columbia ranges and is considered threatened in its native range in Alberta.
The coastal cutthroat trout, also known as the sea-run cutthroat trout, blue-back trout or harvest trout, is one of the several subspecies of cutthroat trout found in Western North America. The coastal cutthroat trout occurs in four distinct forms. A semi-anadromous or sea-run form is the most well known. Freshwater forms occur in both large and small rivers and streams and lake environments. The native range of the coastal cutthroat trout extends south from the southern coastline of the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska to the Eel River in Northern California. Coastal cutthroat trout are resident in tributary streams and rivers of the Pacific basin and are rarely found more than 100 miles (160 km) from the ocean.
The Crescenti cutthroat trout or the Lake Crescent cutthroat trout is a North American freshwater fish, a local form of the coastal cutthroat trout isolated in Lake Crescent in Washington. While previously attributed to a distinct subspecies Oncorhynchus clarkii crescenti, it is not currently recognized at the subspecies rank. However the cutthroat trout of Lake Crescent do remain distinct. They have the highest known gill raker and vertebrae counts of any coastal cutthroat population. The cutthroat are believed to have been isolated in Lake Crescent after a landslide blocked the eastern outflow of the lake.
Paiute cutthroat trout is one of fourteen subspecies of cutthroat trout. Paiute Cutthroat are native only to Silver King Creek, a headwater tributary of the Carson River in the Sierra Nevada, in California. This subspecies is named after the indigenous Northern Paiute peoples.
Kawuneeche Valley, also known as Kawuneeche or Coyote Valley, is a marshy valley of the Colorado River near its beginning. It is located on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. The axis of the valley runs almost directly north to south. Kawuneeche means "valley of the coyote" in Arapaho language and there is a Coyote Valley Trail head by US Route 34 in the western half of the park. Coyotes still live here, as do wapiti (elk), mule deer, moose, and mountain lion.
The Whitehorse Basin cutthroat trout refers to a population segment of the cutthroat trout complex from the streams of the Whitehorse Basin, southeastern Oregon. It is alternatively considered as a part of the Lahontan cutthroat trout subspecies, or of the Humboldt cutthroat trout whose main range is in Nevada.
Birch Creek is a northwesterly-flowing 8.4 miles (13.5 km) stream in Beaver County, Utah. It originates on the western slope of Birch Creek Mountain in the Tushar Mountains in Fishlake National Forest, and its waters flow west into South Creek, then under Interstate 15 south of the town of Beaver, and thence to the Beaver River, and ultimately to the Sevier River and Lake.
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