Cutthroat Trout
Oncorhynchus clarkii
Cutthroat trout 3
The cutthroat trout is the only native trout to Colorado. It has many distinct genetic subspecies the most of any trout. In Colorado there are 4 native and 1 introduced subspecies of cutthroat . The 4 native being Colorado river, Rio Grande, San Juan, and Greenback cutthroat trout. These native subspecies can be very difficult to identify without genetic testing and the best way to tell is by what river drainage they’re in. The one species of introduced cutthroat is snake river or fine spotted cutthroat. Cutthroat used to be very abundant throughout all Colorado rivers but their range has been drastically cut back due to being out competed by introduced trout species. Nowadays most cutthroat are still abundant in headwaters and in alpine waters and lakes of each subspecies respective watersheds and ranges. Some cutthroat subspecies were even thought to be extinct. And one of Colorados subspecies the yellowfin cutthroat trout is considered extinct. They can grow up to 25 inches and that would be considered a monster for most cutthroat in Colorado. Considered one of the big 4 trout species for anglers here in Colorado as most cutthroat live in stunning places and have beautiful colors.
Sources and Credits
- (c) Terry M, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Terry M
- (c) gcmorath, all rights reserved, uploaded by gcmorath
- Adapted by gcmorath from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oncorhynchus_clarkii
