The Bonneville cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii utah) is a subspecies of cutthroat trout native to tributaries of the Great Salt Lake and Sevier Lake. Most of the fish's current and historic range is in Utah, but they are also found in Idaho, Wyoming, and Nevada. This is one of 14 or so recognized subspecies of cutthroat trout native to the western United States.
In 1997, the Bonneville cutthroat was designated the official state fish of Utah, replacing the rainbow trout. It was important to the Native Americans and the Mormon pioneers as a source of food.
The Bonneville cutthroat is like many other subspecies of cutthroat, typified by scattered, pixel-like, black dots over its upper body. Lake and reservoir Bonnevilles will display subdued colors of silver-gray to charcoal, with the upper body having sometimes subtle hues of pink on the sides, blending to deep green along the spine. River Bonnevilles, like river brown trout, often have a much more yellow quality, greatly overtaking both the pinks and greens of the lake variety. These fish, particularly the Bear Lake strain, sometimes lack the bright crimson jaw slash that, at times, may be yellow, pink, or orange.
Cutthroat and rainbow trout differ in that cutthroats have basibranchial (hyoid) teeth in their throat between the gill arches and behind the tongue. The dots on the Bonneville are usually larger, as well as sparser, when compared to the rainbow. And the Bonneville has a larger, more distinct jawline.
As one of the features of native trout of the Mountain West, Bonneville cutthroats suffered intense fishing pressure for commerce and sustenance from the 1850s through the 1920s. At one time they were so numerous they were considered a nuisance, but today they are on the Utah Sensitive Species List. Bonneville cutthroats spawn near the mouths of streams, over gravel substrate in the springtime; having an incubation period of 24 to 25 days. Occasionally the Bonneville will interspecies-breed with rainbow trout—since the two species share many of the same waters—producing cutbow hybrids. In order to preserve the pure Bonneville cutthroat, the state of Utah has attempted to keep certain waters Bonneville-specific, such as Little Dell Reservoir, just up-stream from Mountain Dell Reservoir.
