Cutthroat trout

[1/2 oz Bucktail]

Quick quiz, anyone out there know how the cutthroat trout got it's name?

Hint: it is not as obvious as you may have first thought.

[baitfisher83]

if it's not the red marking under the lower jaw i have no idea...

[pontooner]

it got the name by the red gash.it's also called the salmo clarkii year(1836) or the salmo mykiss by Mr.Eigenmann in 1895.most common type in alberta is the lewisi the yellowstone cutthroat

[1/2 oz Bucktail]

Nope not the gular slash (red throat marking).

[Bassett]

Hmm im stumped I looked it up on wikipedia and it said its got its name because of the red marking.

[huntin'fool]

On another note, that's a nice bull you got in your avatar. Where'd you get it, how long ago?

[1/2 oz Bucktail]

I grabbed that Bull out of the Sheep Creek two years ago. Was able to get another one just like it this year.

[goldscud]

Westslope Cutts... Oncorhynchus clarki lewisi
Rainbow... O. mykiss

Genus name changed from Salmo a few years ago.

[1/2 oz Bucktail]

Okay here's the answer. The fish was named cutthroat due to a small row of pharangeal teeth located where the gills meet the throat of the fish.

Apparently fishermen who tried to hold the fish through the gills often cut their fingers on these teeth, therefore cutthroat trout.