Bonneville Cutthroat Trout

Introduction: The Bonneville Cutthroat is one of the minor subspecies of Yellowstone Cutthroat and is native to the Bonneville basin of Utah and parts of Wyoming, Idaho, and Nevada. The trout adapted to life in Lake Bonneville which was the largest of the Great Basin lakes and was formed during the last ice age. Today all that is left of the ancient lake bonneville is the Great Salt Lake and Utah Lake. The Bonneville Cutthroat went extinct in Utah Lake in the early 1900's and today the only large lake population of Bonneville Cutthroat that still persists is those from Bear Lake in Utah and Idaho. The trout of this lake have developed a specialized predator-prey relationship with the lake's native whitefish and historically have had the abilitly to attain weights of 25 pounds. Bear Lake and the lakes and streams in the Bonneville Basin have had a long standing history of introductions of nonnative trout, which by the 1950's led to the assumption that pure Bonneville Cutthroat were extinct. However because the Bonneville Cutthroat native to the Bear Lake drainage had evolved in an arid and highly fluctuating environment, they were better adapted and persisted in streams that nonnative trout could not survive in. Beyond the Bonneville Cutthroat native to the Bear Lake drainage, Bonneville Cutthroat native to other drainages have persisted in small headwater streams. Today there are around 50 pure populations of Bonneville Cutthroat and a recovery effort is in place to increase their abundance.

Description: The Bonneville Cutthroat has very similar coloration to that of the Yellowstone Cutthroat, with a little bit more of a silverly gray color. The Bonneville Cutthroat has large spots sparsely distributed spots that are spread fairly evenly across their body.