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Description and Habitat
Native to the western United States and Canada, the cutthroat trout (salmo clarki) obtains its name from a streak of red colour beneath its lower jaw. Cutthroats often hybridize with other trout, especially the rainbow. In many areas, the two varieties exist as an indistinct strain. Like the brook trout, the cutthroat is vulnerable to over-fishing and to disruptions in the local environment. Also like the brook trout, the cutthroat tires relatively easily and is top-quality table fare. The cutthroat ranges from Alaska to northern California, and inland to the Wyoming-Yellowstone-Idaho regions.
Behaviour
Anadromous (migratory) coastal cutthroats swim to the ocean when they reach two or three years of age. They remain in the ocean for about two years, after which they return to the rivers to spawn. When cutthroats reach at least four years of age, they begin to spawn on alternate years. Coastal cutthroats spawn in February and March, while inland cutthroat spawn in April and May. The life span of the cutthroat is six to ten years; consequently, most fish spawn only once or twice in a lifetime.
Cutthroats are piscivorous, meaning their diet consists almost entirely of other fish. Young cutthroat that are too small to compete with other residents of their ecosystem feed on small freshwater shrimp and insect larvae.
In many popular fishing areas, the cutthroat population is dwindling. Over-fishing and the introduction of dominant trout species into the same waters as the cutthroat have contributed to smaller catches and fewer fish. Most cutthroat fishing is restricted to smaller streams away from heavily fished rivers and lakes, but even in these sheltered areas, the cutthroat struggles to sustain itself. Today, in a dwindling fish population, a catch over five pounds is significant.
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