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Rio Grande cutthroat trout
From the Conejos watershed in southern Colorado
Conservation status
Vulnerable  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Salmoniformes
Family:	Salmonidae
Genus:	Oncorhynchus
Species:	O. virginalis
Subspecies:	O. v. virginalis
Trinomial name
Oncorhynchus virginalis virginalis (C. F. Girard, 1856)

The Rio Grande cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus virginalis virginalis), a member of the family Salmonidae, is found in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado in tributaries of the Rio Grande.

It is one of 9 subspecies of the Rocky Mountain cutthroat trout native to the western United States, and is the state fish of New Mexico. Cutthroat trout were the first New World trout encountered by Europeans when in 1541, Spanish explorer Francisco de Coronado recorded seeing trout in the Pecos River near Santa Fe, New Mexico. These were most likely Rio Grande cutthroat trout (O. v. virginalis).

Life history

Rio Grande cutthroat trout typically spawn between mid-May and mid-June. Males are sexually mature at age two; females mature at age three. They live an average of five years, but in rare cases, may survive into their teens. Rio Grande cutthroat feed opportunistically on aquatic insects and terrestrial insects that fall into the water.

Description

Rio Grande cutthroat trout have variably shaped spots located mostly posteriorly, with fewer and smaller spots above the anterior lateral line. Basibranchial teeth are not prominent or may be absent. Color is variable but often includes red, orange or pink on the opercula and throat, bright rosy to drab olive flanks and yellow-orange undersides.

Conservation status

Rio Grande cutthroat have the distinction of being the southernmost subspecies of cutthroat trout. However, due to the loss of populations across their native range and reports of Rio Grande cutthroat in Mexico and Texas, it is unclear how far south this trout once occurred. The Mexican reports have been all but dismissed, but Garrett and Matlock (1991) provided evidence indicating that Rio Grande cutthroat were likely native to Texas. Today the southernmost known populations are found on the eastern flanks of the Gila Mountains in Southern New Mexico.

Rio Grande cutthroats currently live on 700 miles of stream in the Santa Fe National Forest, which is approximately 91% of their historical range. The Rio Grande cutthroat trout was a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act from 2008 to 2014.

In 2014 it was removed from candidacy as it was determined that listing was not warranted for this species. The ruling was challenged by the Center for Biological Diversity, however, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will reevaluate the species' candidacy.

The Rio Grande cutthroat trout evolved in New Mexico as a member of a native fish assemblage that included the longnose dace, the Rio Grande chub and the Rio Grande sucker.

References

1. NatureServe (2 February 2024). "Oncorhynchus clarkii virginalis". NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data accessed through NatureServe Explorer. Arlington, Virginia: NatureServe. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
2. ^ Trotter; Bisson; Schultz; Roper, eds. (2018). Cutthroat Trout: Evolutionary Biology and Taxonomy. American Fisheries Society. doi:10.47886/9781934874509. ISBN 978-1-934874-50-9.
3. Pritchard, Victoria; Cowley, David (2006). "Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout: A Technical Conservation Assessment" (PDF). Retrieved 2014-07-10.
4. Trotter, Patrick C. (2008). "Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout". Cutthroat: Native Trout of the West (2nd ed.). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. pp. 421–447. ISBN 978-0-520-25458-9.
5. Fishery Science Consultant (retired) 4926 26th Avenue South, Seattle, Washington 98108, USA; Trotter, Patrick; Bisson, Peter; U.S. Forest Service (emeritus), Pacific Northwest Research Station 3625 83rd Avenue SW, Olympia, Washington 95812, USA, eds. (2018), "Cutthroat Trout: Evolutionary Biology and Taxonomy", American Fisheries Society, doi:10.47886/9781934874509.ch13, ISBN 978-1-934874-50-9, retrieved 2024-08-07 {{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: editors list (link)
6. Fishery Science Consultant (retired) 4926 26th Avenue South, Seattle, Washington 98108, USA; Trotter, Patrick; Bisson, Peter; U.S. Forest Service (emeritus), Pacific Northwest Research Station 3625 83rd Avenue SW, Olympia, Washington 95812, USA, eds. (2018), "Cutthroat Trout: Evolutionary Biology and Taxonomy", American Fisheries Society, doi:10.47886/9781934874509.ch1, ISBN 978-1-934874-50-9, retrieved 2024-08-07 {{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: editors list (link)
7. Fishery Science Consultant (retired) 4926 26th Avenue South, Seattle, Washington 98108, USA; Trotter, Patrick; Bisson, Peter; U.S. Forest Service (emeritus), Pacific Northwest Research Station 3625 83rd Avenue SW, Olympia, Washington 95812, USA, eds. (2018), "Cutthroat Trout: Evolutionary Biology and Taxonomy", American Fisheries Society, doi:10.47886/9781934874509.ch2, ISBN 978-1-934874-50-9, retrieved 2024-08-07 {{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: editors list (link)
8. ^ "State Fish". About New Mexico. New Mexico Office of the Secretary of State. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
9. Behnke, Robert J.; Tomelleri, Joseph R. (illustrator) (2002). "Cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus clarki". Trout and Salmon of North America. The Free Press. p. 139. ISBN 0-7432-2220-2.
10. ^ "Species Profile Rio Grande cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii virginalis)". Environmental Conservation Online System. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
11. ^ Springer, Craig (11 December 2023). "A Trout to Tout: Recovery of Rio Grande Cutthroat Is a Model for Fisheries Conservation". Fall 2023 Fish & Wildlife News. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
12. "Rio Grande Cutthroat - Oncorhynchus clarki virginalis - Introduction". Retrieved 2016-05-01.
13. New Mexico Game and Fish http://www.wildlife.state.nm.us/rio-grande-cutthroat-trout-no-longer-an-endangered-species-candidate/
14. 88 FR 41560

External links

Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Oncorhynchus clarki". FishBase.

v t e Cutthroat trout subspecies and forms
Salmonidae
Pacific Coast	Coastal cutthroat trout Lake Crescent cutthroat trout
Great Basin	Alvord cutthroat trout† Bonneville cutthroat trout Humboldt cutthroat trout Lahontan cutthroat trout Whitehorse Basin cutthroat trout Paiute cutthroat trout
Northern Rockies	Snake River fine-spotted cutthroat trout Westslope cutthroat trout Yellowfin cutthroat trout† Yellowstone cutthroat trout
Southern Rockies	Colorado River cutthroat trout Greenback cutthroat trout Rio Grande cutthroat trout
Media related to Oncorhynchus clarkii at Wikimedia Commons

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Media related to Trout at Wikimedia Commons

• NatureServe vulnerable species
• Oncorhynchus
• Cold water fish
• Freshwater fish of the United States
• Fish of the Western United States
• Fauna of the Southwestern United States
• Fauna of the Rio Grande valleys
• Fauna of the Rocky Mountains
• Endemic fish of the United States
• Taxa named by Charles Frédéric Girard
• Fish described in 1856
• Symbols of New Mexico