Snake River fine-spotted cutthroat trout
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| iSnake River fine-spotted cutthroat trout | ||||||||||||||||
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| Oncorhynchus clarki behnkei |
The Snake River fine-spotted cutthroat trout is a subspecies of cutthroat trout which is a variant of the Yellowstone cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki bouvieri) and which has more recently been given its own trinomial classification, Oncorhynchus clarki behnkei. The trout takes its common name from its original habitat, the Snake River of southern Idaho and western Wyoming, and from its unusual pattern of hundreds of small spots that concentrate toward the caudal fin into an almost solid black.
This trout shares territory with the Yellowstone subspecies, but does not interbreed with it and can be differentiated from it by behavioral differences in addition to the meristics.
While fine-spotted x rainbow trout crosses are observed in the South Fork of the Snake River in Idaho, they are infrequently encountered and appear to be hatchery hybrids. Conversely, Yellowstone x rainbow crosses are common, the "Cuttbows" of Yellowstone Park in the Lamar River drainage are natural hybrids.
In addition to their natural aversion to cross-breeding with other trout, fine-spotted cutthroats are unusual in their pursuit of a vertebrate diet, mainly other fish, but occasionally including small mammals. They are the only river cutthroat with a vertebrate diet, and as a result their territorial waters are almost devoid of whitefish. While the fine-spotted cutthroats can be very selective feeders during a major hatch of aquatic invertebrates, they are not as focussed as rainbow or brown trout, and can be diverted with small terrestrial imitations. In addition, when there is no obvious hatch, anglers can be very successful with large streamer flies that imitate small fish.
[edit] Reference
Trout and Salmon of North America by Robert J. Behnke, The Free Press, N.Y., N.Y. 2002 This one book is a satisfactory reference for all categories.
