The cutthroat trout is a fish species of the family Salmonidae. It is native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean, Rocky Mountains, and Great Basin in North America. Cutthroats spawn in the spring and may inadvertently but naturally hybridize with rainbow trout, producing fertile cutbows.
About Cutthroat trout in brief
The cutthroat trout is a fish species of the family Salmonidae. It is native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean, Rocky Mountains, and Great Basin in North America. The scientific name of the cutthroats is Oncorhynchus clarkii. Several subspecies are currently listed as threatened in their native ranges due to habitat loss and the introduction of non-native species. Cutthroats spawn in the spring and may inadvertently but naturally hybridize with rainbow trout, producing fertile cutbows. The species was first described in the journals of explorer William Clark from specimens obtained during the Lewis and Clark Expedition from the Missouri River near Great Falls, Montana, and these were most likely the westslope cut Throat trout. In 1989, morphological and genetic studies indicated trout of the. Pacific basin were genetically closer to Pacific salmon than to the Salmos–brown trout or Atlantic salmon of the Atlantic basin. The cutthroAT trout type species and several subspecies is the official state fish of seven western U.S. states. It has been suggested that trout evolved from a. ancestor that migrated from the Pacific coast and into the mountain basins 3.5 million years ago in the late Plistocene epochs. Throughout their native and introduced habitat ranges and coloration they vary widely in size, coloration, and habitat. The different subspecies found today are found in four evolutionary groups—Coastal, Westslope, Lahontan and Pleontan.
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 & Clark Expedition. The type specimen of S. clarkII was described by naturalist John Richardson from a tributary of theLower Columbia River, identified as the Katpootl, which was perhaps the Lewis River as there was a Multnomah village of similar name at the confluence. In 1836, the type specimen was most likely O. c. alvordensis and O. c. macdonaldi, which are considered extinct. Until the 1960s, populations of wests lope cutthroate trout and Yellowstone cutthro at trout were lumped into one subspecies; Salmo clarki lewisii. In the early 1960s the species was split into two subspecies, christening the name westsLope cut throat trout with the lewi name which honors explorer Meriwether Lewis and renaming the Yellowstone cut throat Trout Salmo bouvierii, the first name given to the Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout by David Starr Jordan in 1883 honoring a U. S. Army Captain Bouvier. The two sub species are now recognized as separate. Some populations of the coastal cutthroath trout are semi-anadromous. Some of them were once thought to be the same species.
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This page is based on the article Cutthroat trout published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 06, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
