The American Fisheries Society recently published their 8th Edition of the Common and Scientific Names of Fisheries from the United States, Canada, and Mexico, which contains a major change to the classification of Cutthroat Trout. This instead of a single species, this change elevates the four major lineages of Cutthroat Trout first identified by Robert Behnke to four full species. These species are:
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| Coastal Cutthroat Cutthroat Trout - Oncorhynchus clarkii |
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| Westslope Cutthroat Trout - Oncorhynchus lewisi |
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| Lahontan Cutthroat Trout - Oncorhynchus henshawi |
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| Rocky Mountain Cutthroat - Oncorhynchus virginalis |
These changes were first proposed back in 2018 in the book Cutthroat Trout: Evolutionary Biology and Taxonomy, but what the current change to Cutthroat Trout classification remains silent on is the classification of Cutthroat subspecies. While the tradition classification proposed by Robert Behnke recognizes 14 subspecies of Cutthroat Trout, the one proposed based on genetics in the 2018 book would expand that number to 25. My website will continue to follow the proposed 2018 classification, which includes the species now formally recognized by AFS and only time will tell if the subspecies classifis official recognized by the American Fisheries Society in the future.
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2 comments:
One step at a time Gary. I’ve been awaiting the AFS decision since I first read about the 2018 symposium. Thanks for your dedication to this web site as it’s been a huge resource in my own sub-species quest.
With the advent of new technology and awareness of native trout and salmon I have no doubt there will likely be more identified. Which makes for a longer than I thought native trout sojourns.
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