Did You Know....

The West Slope Cutthroat
Cutthroats are considered native to Northern Idaho, British Columbia's upper Columbia system, across the continental divide into Montana and Alberta.

Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class:Actinopterygii
Order:Salmoniformes
Family:Salmonidae
Genus:Oncorhynchus
Species: O. clarki

Cutthroat's scientific name, Oncorhynchus clarki lewisi, came from the explorers that we are all very familiar with. Sometime between 1804 and 1806, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led the Lewis and Clark Expedition in search of finding the Pacific. This expedition documented discovering the Cutthroat subspecies at the''Great Falls of the Missouri River."

Cutthroats vary in size but on average they range in the 8-12 inch range with occasionally getting up and around 18 inches. They are a smaller species of trout that have small dark spots mainly gathering towards the tail. They are very well known for the orange markings beneath their jaw which gave them the name''Cutthroat."

Like any trout, the feed mostly on insects and zooplankton. They have teeth under their tongue and on the roof of their mouth as well as in front. They are very prevalent in lakes and stream environments.
Cutthroat need very cold water conditions to survive. One of the major threats this species face is hybridization. Some say that one day the Native Cutthroat may in fact disappear from the Northern Rockies. This is a result of modernization in many areas which may and is potentially destroying natural habitats along some prominent cutthroat streams. There are actions in place to help sustain this species in certain areas. As an MRF member, we are going to be looking into helping the MT FWP in restoring Cutthroat to parts of a local stream in the Great Falls surrounding area. Look for more on this project.

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