Snake River fine-spotted cutthroat trout
| Snake River fine-spotted cutthroat trout | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Salmoniformes |
| Family: | Salmonidae |
| Genus: | Oncorhynchus |
| Species: | |
| Subspecies: | O. c. behnkei |
| Trinomial name | |
| Oncorhynchus clarkii behnkei Montgomery, 1995 | |
The Snake River fine-spotted cutthroat trout is a form of the Yellowstone subspecies of the Rocky Mountain cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus virginalis). Based on genetic evidince, rather than morphology, it is now considered a variety of the Yellowstone cutthroat trout (O. v. bouvieri). The fish takes its common name from its original habitat, the Snake River of southern Idaho and western Wyoming, and from its unusual pattern of hundreds of small spots that cover most of its body, differing from the larger-spotted Yellowstone cutthroat pattern. Genetically, it cannot be distinguished from the Yellowstone cutthroat trout, and before the construction of dams, no physical barriers were between the ranges of the two subspecies in the Snake River drainage.
The subspecies was scientifically named in 1995 in a popular book by columnist M. R. Montgomery, to honor the fisheries research of Dr. Robert J. Behnke, who had presented its (unnamed) description in 1992.