Yellowstone Cutthroat

Introduction: The Yellowstone Cutthroat is major subspecies of cutthroat that is native to the Yellowstone and Upper Snake River drainages. While the populations of many other subspecies of cutthroat have diminished throughout the Western United States, Yellowstone Cutthroat have continued to hold their own in much of their native range. This was largely due to the creation of Yellowstone National Park in 1872, and the remoteness of the area that they inhabit. However as with other subspecies of Cutthroat, there are still a number of threats to the continued well being of Yellowstone Cutthroat. For example in Yellowstone Lake, which is in the heart of this species native range, and holds the largest population of these fish, they are being threatened by both the illegal introduction of Lake Trout and Whirling Desease. Both of these were discovered in the 1990's and the park service is taking efforts to try to eliviate the problem. Even though their populations are stable in much of the National Park, outside they have been displaced by hybridization and competition with Rainbow and Brown trout. It is possible that these trout were once native to Crab Creek in Eastern Washington, but before the Cutthroat of this creek could be properly identified, they went extinct due the introduction of non-native trout.

Description: These trout are definetly beautiful fish, although their coloration tends to be less-intence than that found on Westslope Cutthroat. The typical coloration for yellowstone cutthroat is yellowish-brown or bronze, with tints of rose along the lateral line and lower fins present on some fish. Like the Westslope Cutthroat, the spotting patterns on Yellowstone Cutthroat vary a lot. Some populations have spots that are smaller in size like those found on Westslope Cutthroat, whereas others are larger and more typical of yellowstone cutthroat. The spots tend to be concentrated toward the posterior of the fish, but are often found somewhat distributed across the entire fish.

Below: A map of the native range of the Yellowstone Cutthroat , an