Lahontan cutthroat trout
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| 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. Irrigation developents along these rivers have severely disrupted its habitat. It was classified as an endangered species between 1970 and 1975, and is currently listed as a threatened species.
Naturally-reproducing populations of the Lahontan cutthroat trout exist in the headwaters of some of the rivers within its historical range. The native populations in the lower portions of rivers and lakes are mostly extinct. Pyramid Lake and Walker Lake have been re-stocked with fish captured in Summit Lake, and those populations are maintained by fish hatcheries as those lakes are too saline for the fish to reproduce naturally and conditions in the rivers that feed them are no longer conducive to reproductive success. The EPA developed a hydrology transport model for the Truckee River to analyze effects of land use management strategies on the Lahontan cutthroat trout.
The Lahontan cutthroat trout has been introduced to waters outside its native range, including Lake Lenore (alternately Lenore Lake) in central Washington.
The record size cutthroat trout was a 41-pound Lahontan which was caught in Pyramid Lake.
The Lahontan cutthroats of Pyramid Lake were of considerable importance to the Pyramid Lake Paiute tribe. They were once the mainstay of the Paiute diet, and used by other tribes in the area. During the 19th century and early 20th centuries, they 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. While the Pyramid Lake population seems to have been little affected by these considerable harvests, they were less able to cope with the completion of Derby Dam on the Truckee River in 1905; the dam's fish ladder did not work properly, and in any case was swept away by floods in 1907. Diversion of water into the Lahontan Reservoir beginning in 1914 greatly reduced the river's volume, and by 1943 the cutthroat population native to Pyramid Lake became extinct. The lake has since been re-stocked.
[edit] References
- William F. Sigler and John W. Sigler, Fishes of the Great Basin (Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1987), pp. 110-118
