Yellowstone cutthroat trout

The Yellowstone cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus virginalis bouvieri) is a subspecies of Rocky Mountain cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus virginalis). It is a freshwater fish in the salmon family (family Salmonidae). Native only to a few U.S. states, their original range was upstream of Shoshone Falls on the Snake River and tributaries in Wyoming, also across the Continental Divide in Yellowstone Lake and in the Yellowstone River as well as its tributaries downstream to the Tongue River in Montana. The species is also found in Idaho, Utah and Nevada.

It is believed that it got into Yellowstone River (which drains into Atlantic) from Snake River (which drains into Pacific) drainages through a small creek known as Parting of the Waters. It is one of the few aquatic species that has crossed a continental divide.

Population threats

Their range has been reduced by overfishing and habitat destruction due to mining, grazing, and logging, and population densities have been reduced by competition with non-native brook, brown, and rainbow trout since these were introduced in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, the most serious current threats to the subspecies are interbreeding wit