Paiute cutthroat trout
| Paiute cutthroat trout 'Oncorhynchus clarkii seleniris' |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Salmoniformes |
| Family: | Salmonidae |
| Genus: | Oncorhynchus |
| Species: | O. clarkii |
| Subspecies: | O. c. seleniris |
| Trinomial name | |
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Oncorhynchus clarkii seleniris (John O. Snyder, 1933) |
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Paiute cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii seleniris) is one of fourteen subspecies of cutthroat trout. Paiute Cutthroat are native only to Silver King Creek, a headwater tributary of the Carson River in the Sierra Nevada, in California. This subspecies is named after the indigenous Northern Paiute peoples.
Paiute cutthroat trout are endemic to and protected within the Carson Ranger District of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. The Carson River lies within the Great Basin interior drainage system, within the historic range of Lahontan cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki henshawi).
It is believed that a sub-population of Lahontan cutthroats became isolated in Silver King Creek above Silver King Canyon Gorge after erosion made the gorge impassable to trout swimming upstream, probably between 5,000 and 8,000 years ago. The upstream population then adapted to local conditions independent of the larger population below that had evolved in pluvial Lake Lahontan during the . Although Lahontan cutthroats are heavily spotted, the isolated sub-population lost virtually all spotting, perhaps because spots made fish more visible and susceptible to predation in the ultra-clear and shallow mountain stream. Paiute cutthroats are also notable for a purple coloration, whereas Lahontan cutthroats have bronze coloration. The Paiute strain must have adapted to a diet mainly of insects and become less migratory since juvenile fish swimming downstream in search of larger waters would have passed below downstream barriers and left the isolated gene pool.
Basque sheepherders began grazing sheep along upper Silver King Creek in the 1800s. They noticed the unusual trout and by 1912 had transplanted them above Llewellyn Falls which had originally been the upper limit. This is fortunate because by 1924 hybrids with ordinary Lahontan cutthroat and introduced rainbow trout (cutbows) were found below Llewellyn Falls, either due to ill-considered stocking or barriers in the gorge washing out.
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Wikipedia