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Information about Lahontan Cutthroat Trout

Lahontan cutthroat trout
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Actinopterygii
Order:Salmoniformes
Family:Salmonidae
Genus:Oncorhynchus
Species:O. clarki
Subspecies:O. c. henshawi
Trinomial name
Oncorhynchus clarki henshawi
(Richardson, 1836)


Lahontan cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki henshawi) is the largest cutthroat trout subspecies, and the state fish of Nevada. It is native to the drainages of the Truckee River, Humboldt River, Carson River, Walker River, Quinn River and several smaller rivers in the Great Basin of North America. These were tributaries of ancient Lake Lahontan during the ice ages until the lake shrank to remnants such as Pyramid Lake and Walker Lake about 9,000 years ago, although Lake Tahoe -- from which the Truckee flows to Pyramid Lake -- is still a large mountain lake.

Lahontan cutthroats evolved into a large (up to 1 meter) and moderately long-lived predator of chub, suckers and other fish growing as long as 30 or 40 cm. The trout was able to continue its predacious life history in the larger remnant lakes where prey fish continued to flourish, but upstream populations were forced to adapt to eating smaller fish and insects. Some experts consider O. c. henshawi in upper Humboldt River and tributaries to be a separate subspecies, adapted to living in small streams rather than large lakes.

The Lahontan cutthroats of Pyramid Lake were of considerable importance to the Paiute tribe at Pyramid and Walker Lakes. They and Cui-ui -- a sucker found only in Pyramid Lake -- were dietary mainstays and were used by other tribes in the area. During the 19th century and early 20th centuries, Lahontans were caught in tremendous numbers and shipped to towns and mining camps throughout the West; estimates have ranged as high as 1,000,000 pounds annually between 1860 and 1920.

American settlement in the Great Basin nearly extirpated these remarkable fish. A dam in Mason Valley blocked spawning runs from Walker Lake. By 1905 Derby Dam on the Truckee River below Reno interfered with Pyramid Lake's spawning runs. A poorly designed fish ladder washed away in 1907, then badly-timed water diversions to farms in the Fallon, Nevada area stranded spawning fish and desiccated eggs below the dam. By 1943 Pyramid Lake's population was extinct. Lake Tahoe's population was extinct by 1930 from competition and inbreeding with introduced Rainbow Trout, predation by introduced Lake trout, and diseases introduced along with these exotic species.

Pyramid and Walker Lakes have been re-stocked with fish captured in Summit Lake (Nevada), and those populations are maintained by fish hatcheries. Unfortunately the Summit Lake strain does not live as long or grow as large as the original strain of fish. However fish believed to have been stocked almost a century ago from the Pyramid Lake strain were discovered in a small stream along the Nevada-Utah border, and may eventually be used to restore the original strain.

Upstream populations have been isolated and decimated by poorly-managed grazing and excessive water withdrawals for Irrigation, as well as by hybridization and competition. They were classified as an endangered species between 1970 and 1975, then the classification was relaxed to threatened species.

Because it tolerates water too alkaline for other trout, Lahontan cutthroats are stocked in alkaline lakes outside its native range, including Lake Lenore (alternately Lenore Lake) in central Washington and Lake Mann in Oregon's Alvord Desert east of Steens Mountain.

The record size cutthroat trout was a 41-pound Lahontan caught in Pyramid Lake, however there is anecdotal and photographic evidence of even larger fish from this lake.

References

  • William F. Sigler and John W. Sigler, Fishes of the Great Basin (Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1987), pp. 110-118

See also

DSSAM Model

External links

Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Chordata
Bateson, 1885

Typical Classes

See below

Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates.
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Actinopterygii
Klein, 1885

Subclasses

Chondrostei
Neopterygii
See text for orders.
The Actinopterygii (the plural form of Actinopterygius) comprise the class of the ray-finned fishes.
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Salmoniformes

Family: Salmonidae

Genera

(see text)

Salmonidae is a family of ray-finned fish, the only living family of the order Salmoniformes.
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Salmoniformes

Family: Salmonidae

Genera

(see text)

Salmonidae is a family of ray-finned fish, the only living family of the order Salmoniformes.
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Oncorhynchus
Suckley, 1861

Species

See text.
Oncorhynchus (Pacific salmon and Pacific trout) is a genus of in the family Salmonidae (salmon).
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O. clarki

Binomial name
Oncorhynchus clarki
(Richardson, 1836)

Subspecies

See text.

The cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki
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In biology, trinomial nomenclature refers to names for taxa below the rank of species. This is different for animals and plants:
  • for animals see trinomen. There is only one rank allowed below the rank of species: subspecies.
  • for plants see ternary name.

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Sir John Richardson (November 5, 1787 – June 5, 1865) was a Scottish naval surgeon, naturalist and arctic explorer.

Richardson was born at Dumfries. He studied medicine at Edinburgh, and became a surgeon in the navy in 1807.
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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1800s  1810s  1820s  - 1830s -  1840s  1850s  1860s
1833 1834 1835 - 1836 - 1837 1838 1839

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Subjects:     Archaeology - Architecture -
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O. clarki

Binomial name
Oncorhynchus clarki
(Richardson, 1836)

Subspecies

See text.

The cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki
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The introduction of this article is too short.
To comply with Wikipedia's lead section guidelines, it should be expanded.
Please discuss this issue on the talk page and read the lead section guide to make sure the introduction summarizes the article.
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This is a list of official and *unofficial U.S. state fish:

State Fish Image Year & Citation
Alabama Largemouth bass (fresh water)
(Micropterus salmoides) 1975. [1]
Fighting tarpon (salt water)
(Megalops atlanticus) 1955.
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State of Nevada

Flag of Nevada Seal
''Nickname(s): Silver State (official), Sagebrush State,
Battle Born State''
Motto(s): All For Our Country

Official language(s) English

Capital Carson City

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Origin the Sierra Nevada range, California
Mouth Pyramid Lake, Nevada
Basin countries United States
Length 140 mi (225 km)

Mouth elevation 3,790 ft (1,155 m)

The Truckee River
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Humboldt River runs through northern Nevada in the western United States. At approximately 300 miles (480 km), it is the longest river in the arid Great Basin of North America. It has no outlet to the ocean, but instead empties into the Humboldt Sink.
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Carson River, named after explorer Kit Carson, is a river in northern California and northwestern Nevada in the United States, approximately 150 mi (241 km) long. It originates in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California, fed by melted snow, and flows generally northeast into
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Walker River is a river in west central Nevada in the United States, approximately 50 mi (80 km) long. It drains an arid portion of the Great Basin southeast of Reno, with a watershed that extends into the Sierra Nevada mountains.
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The Quinn River, once known as the Queen River is an intermittent river, approximately 110 mi (177 km) long, in the desert of northwestern Nevada in the United States. It drains an enclosed basin inside the larger Great Basin.
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The Great Basin is a large, arid region of the western United States. Its boundaries depend on how it is defined. Its most common definition is the contiguous watershed, roughly between the Wasatch Mountains, in Utah and the Sierra Nevada, that has no natural outlet to the sea.
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North America is a continent [1] in the Earth's northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. It is bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the southeast by the Caribbean Sea, and on the south and west
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Lake Lahontan was a large endorheic lake that existed during the ice age, covering much of northwestern Nevada, extending into northeastern California and southern Oregon. At its peak approximately 12,700 years ago (during a period known as the "Sehoo Highstand"), the lake had a
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ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the temperature of Earth's climate, resulting in an expansion of the continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and mountain glaciers.
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Pyramid Lake may refer to:

In the United States:
  • Pyramid Lake (Nevada)
  • The Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation in Nevada
  • The Pyramid Lake War (or the Paiute War) in Nevada in 1860

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Walker Lake may refer to:
  • Walker Lake (Alaska)
  • Walker Lake (Nevada)
  • Walker Lake (Pennsylvania)

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G. bicolor

Binomial name
Gila bicolor
(Girard, 1856)

The tui chub Gila bicolor is a cyprinid fish native to western North America.
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Catostomidae

Genera

†Amyzon
Carpiodes
Catostomus
Chasmistes
Cycleptus
Deltistes
Erimyzon
Hypentelium
Ictiobus
Minytrema

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Paiute (sometimes written Piute) refers to two related groups of Native Americans — the Northern Paiute of California, Nevada and Oregon, and the Southern Paiute of Arizona, southeastern California, and Nevada, and Utah.
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