Native Trout of the Contiguous Western States

Work in progress!

The contiguous Western States of America are home to a diverse array of trout and other salmonids. This series of articles covers non-anadromous forms of trout, chars, graylings, and whitefish:

• Arctic Grayling － Thymallus arcticus

• Bull trout － Salvelinus confluentus

• Cutthroat trout － Oncorhynchus clarkii complex

  • Coastal cutthroat trout  － O. clarkii

  • Lahontan cutthroat trout － O. henshawi

  • Rocky Mountain cutthroat trout － O. virginalis

  • Westslope cutthroat trout － O. lewisi

• Dolly Varden － S. malma

• Gila and Apache trout － O. gilea and O. apache

• Golden trout － O. aquabonita

• Mountain whitefish － Prosopium williamsoni

• Rainbow trout － O. mykiss

  • Coastal rainbow trout － O.m. irideus

  • Eagle Lake rainbow trout － O.m. aquilarum

  • Redband trout－ Interior or inland forms of rainbow trout

    • Columbia River redband trout － O.m. gairdneri

    • Great Basin redband trout － O.m. newberrii

    • Sacramento River redband trout － O.m. stonei

Additional Reading

• Native Trout of California and Native Trout of Nevada by Kurt Zeilenga (Trout Adventures)

• Native Trout Fly Fishing (nativetroutflyfishing.com) by Gary Marston

• Identifying Cutthroat Trout by Hayden Cook, Utah Trout Unlimited

• What Are Western Native Trout and Char by Western Native Trout Initiative

• Oregon Native Fish Status Report by Oregon Division of Fish and Wildlife

• Fish Species of Special Concern in California by Peter M. Moyle, et. al.

• Trout and Salmon of North America by Robert Behnke