Native Trout of the Western Contiguous States

Work in progress!

The western contiguous states of America is home to a many different kinds of trout or, more precisely, nonanadromous species of the Salmonidae family.  Hence, in additoin to true trout such as rainbow trout, chars which are commonly referred to as trout, as well as the mountain 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