Westslope cutthroat trout

The westslope cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi), also known as the black-spotted trout, common cutthroat trout and red-throated trout is a subspecies of the cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii) and is a freshwater fish in the salmon family (family Salmonidae) of order Salmoniformes. The cutthroat is the Montana state fish. This subspecies is a species of concern in its Montana and British Columbia ranges and is considered threatened in its native range in Alberta. The scientific name of the westslope cutthroat trout is Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi. The subspecies was first described in the journals of explorer William Clark from specimens obtained during the Lewis and Clark Expedition from the Missouri River near Great Falls, Montana. Cutthroat trout were given the name Salmo clarki in honor of William Clark, who co-led the expedition of 1804–1806. One of Lewis and Clark's missions was to describe the flora and fauna encountered during the expedition. The type specimen of S. clarki was described by naturalist John Richardson in 1836 from a tributary of the lower Columbia River, identified as the "Katpootl", which was perhaps the Lewis River as there was a Multnomah village of similar name at the confluence. This type specimen was most likely the coastal cutthroat subspecies. In 1853, naturalist George Suckley while working for the Pacific Railroad Survey led by Isaac Stevens collected specimens of westslope cutthroat trout by fly fishing below the Great Falls on the Missouri River. In 1856, he described the trout as Salar lewisi to honor explorer Meriwether Lewis. In David Starr Jordan and Barton Warren Evermann's A Check-list of the Fishes and Fishlike Vertebrates of North and Middle America (1896), the name Salmo mykiss lewisi was given to Yellowstone trout or cut-throat trout and included a reference to specimens collected from the Missouri River by George Suckley. In 1898, Jordan and Evermann changed the name of cutthroat trout to Salmo clarki.