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Yellowstone cutthroat trout

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Main article: Cutthroat trout

Yellowstone cutthroat trout

Apparently Secure  (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Salmoniformes
Family: Salmonidae
Genus: Oncorhynchus
Species:
O. clarkii
Subspecies:
O. c. bouvieri
Trinomial name
Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri
(Jordan & Gilbert, 1883)

The Yellowstone cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri) is a subspecies of the cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii). It is a freshwater fish in the salmon family (family Salmonidae). 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.[2] The species is also found in Idaho, Utah and Nevada.[3]

It is believed that it got into Yellowstone River (which drains into Atlantic) from Snake River (which drains into Pacific) drainages through a small creek known as Parting of the Waters. It is one of the few aquatic species that has crossed a continental divide.[4][5]

Population threats

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Their range has been reduced by overfishing and habitat destruction due to mining, grazing, and logging, and population densities have been reduced by competition with non-native brook, brown, and rainbow trout since these were introduced in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, the most serious current threats to the subspecies are interbreeding with introduced rainbow trout (resulting in cutbows) in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem, the presence of lake trout in Yellowstone and Heart lakes in Yellowstone National Park which prey upon cutthroat trout to 15 inches in length, and several outbreaks of whirling disease in major spawning tributaries.[6]

From Birds and nature, 1904

Although lake trout were established in Shoshone and Lewis lakes in the Snake River drainage from U.S. government stocking operations in 1890, they were never officially introduced into the Yellowstone River drainage and their presence there is probably the result of accidental or illegal introductions.[6][7]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ NatureServe (4 August 2023). "Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri". NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data accessed through NatureServe Explorer. Arlington, Virginia: NatureServe. Retrieved 29 August 2023.
  2. ^ "Montana Field Guide-Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout". Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Retrieved 2013-11-16.
  3. ^ Gresswell, Robert E. (June 30, 2009). "Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri): A Technical Conservation Assessment" (PDF). U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved 2011-11-04.
  4. ^ "NPS: Explore Nature » NNL » Sites". Nature.nps.gov. 2012-06-28. Retrieved 2015-02-24.
  5. ^ "The Popular Science Monthly". Archive.org. Retrieved 2015-02-24.
  6. ^ a b "The Yellowstone Lake Crisis: Confronting a Lake Trout Invasion" (PDF). National Park Service. 1995. Retrieved 2007-03-19.
  7. ^ Kendall, W. C. (1921). The Fishes of the Yellowstone National Park. Washington D.C.: Department of Commerce, Bureau of Fisheries. pp. 22–23.

Further reading

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  • Trotter, Patrick C. (2008). Cutthroat: Native Trout of the West (2nd ed.). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-25458-9.
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