Photo by Brett Wilson ©
Physical Characteristics

Cutthroat trout vary widely in size, coloration, and habitats. Though their coloration can range from golden to gray to green on the back, depending on subspecies and habitat, all populations feature distinctive red, pink, or orange marks on the underside of the lower jaw; usually the easiest diagnostic of the species for the casual observer. As adults, different populations and subspecies of cutthroat can range from 6-40 inches (3-100 cm) in length making size an ineffective indicator as to species. There are 14 subspecies of cutthroat trout.

Habitat and Range

Some populations live primarily in the Pacific Ocean as adults and return to fresh water from fall through early spring, to feed on freshwater insects and to spawn. Most populations, however, stay in freshwater throughout their lives and are known as non-migratory, stream-resident or riverine populations.

Feeding

Cutthroat Trout primarily eat insects, but large individuals also eat other fish.

Breeding and Spawning

Cutthroat will readily interbreed with the closely related rainbow trout, producing fertile hybrids. They spawn near the mouths of streams over gravel substrate in the springtime, having an incubation period of 24 to 25 days.