A Few Notes About the Cutthroat Trout…

…because Eccles asked a similar question here.

Aren’t cutthroat and rainbow all just the same? Are there really any differences other than the little gash on the throat of the cutthroat or the iridescent stripe on the rainbow? Those who have never, or do not regularly, catch rainbow and cutthroat trout may have those questions.

Even more frequent questions, are: Aren’t all cutthroat trout the same? They’re just called different names based on where they are located, but they are actually all just “cutthroat” and no subspecies, right?

The answer to each of the above questions is, “No!”

Identifying Cutthroat

There are three main ways to field test if you have a cutthroat trout (as opposed to some other type of trout, typically rainbow). These apply for almost all species, although it does get a bit dicey when dealing with the redband rainbow trout (they may display many of these cutthroat characteristics): 1) the throat markings (yellows, oranges and reds in coloration), 2) basibranchial teeth (teeth on the tongue, toward the rear of the tongue) and 3) a maxillary (the “mustache”) that extends well past the eye.

At this point it might be a good idea to diverge for a moment. Most knowledge we have today of cutthroat trout comes from the work of Dr. Robert Behnke and his students. There are some critics of some of his methods, but overall, there is overwhelming agreement with his methods.

There are other tests which can be done in more of a laboratory setting. Some of these tests deal with counting certain features of the fish (called merisitic characters—this is the area of most contention with Behnke’s work), such as the number of: scales in the lateral line and above the lateral line, vertebrae, intestinal pyloric caeca, rays in the pelvic (and other) fin, and gill rakers.

Newer methods involving DNA have also been employed, both on the chromosomes and mitochondria. Most of these tests confirm Behnke’s merisitic work.

Cutthroat Range

The historical distribution of cutthroat trout are from northern Mexico in the south to southern Alaska in the north. From the Pacific coast in the west to a line connecting eastern Montana to eastern New Mexico on the east. The following is a good map of that range: http://www.westerntrout.org/trout/maps/historic/historic_ranges.jpg

You can find more information about some of the subspecies at the Western Native Trout Initiative.

Cutthroat Species:

• Bonneville Cutthroat
• Coastal Cutthroat
• Colorado River Cutthroat
• Finespotted Snake River Cutthroat
• Greenback Cutthroat
• Humboldt Cutthroat
• Lahontan Cutthroat
• Paiute Cutthroat
• Rio Grande Cutthroat
• Westslope Cutthroat
• Willow/Whitehorse Cutthroat
• Yellowstone Cutthroat

Extinct Cutthroat Species

• Alvord Cutthroat (although there is some very interesting news from Gary at Native Trout Fly Fishing:  http://nativetroutflyfishing.blogspot.com/2008/08/eastern-oregon-trip-part-ii-in-search.html)
• Yellowfin Cutthroat

Other Native, Non-Cutthroat, Trout

• Apache Trout
• California Golden Trout
• Gila Trout
• Rainbow Trout
• Redband Trout

The best current information regarding cutthroat trout is the excellent (highly recommended) book, Cutthroat: Native Trout of the West, by Patrick Trotter, 2^nd edition, 2008 by the University of California Press.

Bob Behnke’s two books, Trout and Salmon of North America and About Trout are two excellent resources for information about trout in general.

The following illustrations were mostly from the Western Native Trout Initiative at http://westernnativetrout.org/content/what-are-western-native-trout/ and from various internet searches.

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