Cutthroat Trout

Oncorhynchus Sp.

Population, Conservation Status, Threats:

Cutthroat trout are considered threatened across their range, though efforts are in place to reintroduce them into waterways where they have become extirpated. They are threatened by overfishing as well as habitat loss and fragmentation due to pollutants and sediment entering their waterways. One of the biggest threats facing cutthroat trout is other trout species which have been introduced into their range - these nonnative species may outcompete or hybridize with cutthroat trout, or even carry diseases like whirling disease that negatively affect cutthroat trout.

Physical Description:

Cutthroat trout are a long slender trout species with a blunt a head and wide wedge-shaped tail. They are a dull green in color, with a lighter underbelly, and black spots across their body. Cutthroat trout are named for the red coloration often seen on their neck and near their gills, reminiscent of a slit throat.

Cutthroat trout range from United States Geological Survey. Cutthroat trout are found in high elevation streams in the western half of the United States.

Habitat:

Cutthroat trout require clear, cold, and well-oxygenated waters to thrive. They are found in high-altitude streams and lakes with little sedimentation and pollution.

Behavior:

Cutthroat trout are a cold-loving species of fish, preferring water temperatures below 70 degrees and ideally within the 50-65 degree range. They feed in fast-running water, while utilizing slower moving areas with cover in the form of boulders and logs to rest. They are a mobile species, travelling throughout their home waterways during the summer months - though their ability to move freely in rivers and streams has lessened as dams and other barriers are installed.

Diet:

An opportunistic feeder, cutthroat trout will eat both aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates, and even other, smaller fish.

Reproduction:

Females build a wide, shallow egg pit in gravel substrate, and spawning occurs in the spring, with females producing 800-6,000 eggs depending on the size of the individual. Male trout reach sexual maturity at two years of age, and females at three.

Associated Species:

Myxobolus cerebralis is a species of European parasite that causes whirling disease in many species of trout and salmon, including cutthroat trout; young fish are especially vulnerable to the disease, which causes neurological damage and skeletal deformation by damaging and destroying the fish's cartilage. Rainbow trout frequently and interbreed with cutthroat trout. Brown trout and brook trout are both nonnative species that compete with cutthroat trout for resources in the streams and rivers they share.

Illustration by Willow Sedam

Sources: https://cpw.state.co.us/learn/Pages/ResearchGreenbackCutthroatTrout.aspx, https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID=890, https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5282736.pdf, https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp/species/2775, https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/whirling-disease.htm

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