Bull Trout
What’s in a name?-Westslope Cutthroat Trout – what an odd name for a species found on both sides of the continental divide. So how did the Westslope Cutthroat Trout get its name and what is the background behind some other North American fish names?
Westslope Cutthroat Trout likely got their common name because they were first described by settlers on the western side of the continental divide. The first written description of Westslope Cutthroat Trout dates back to a Lewis and Clark expedition through the Great Falls of the Missouri River in 1805. Thirty years after the Lewis and Clark expedition, Sir John Richardson wrote a book on the zoology and fish of British Columbia, providing the first scientific name for cutthroat trout, Salmo clarkii, after William Clark. Throughout the years the scientific name underwent some minor changes as it became apparent that there were multiple subspecies of cutthroat trout. In 1989, morphological studies by Smith & Stearley showed that Westslope Cutthroat Trout were more closely related to Pacific salmon than Atlantic salmon and the name was changed to the one we currently use Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi.
Another fish with an unusual name is the Dolly Varden (Salvelinus malma). The name “Dolly Varden” comes from a fashion trend in the 1870s that consisted of a brightly patterned dress with an overskirt. How did the clothing get its name? – It came from a character in Charles Dicken’s novel Barnaby Ridge. Up until 1978, Dolly Varden and Bull Trout were thought to be the same species. It was only after Cavender (1978) identified some morphological and geographical differences that the two species were determined to be distinct. The first fish called a Dolly Varden was likely what we now call a Bull Trout.
Brook Trout
Brook Trout have an expansive array of common names. They have been referred to as Speckled Trout, Lord-fish, Square-tail, Mud Trout, and others. Migratory populations in Lake Superior are also called Coaster Brook Trout or just Coasters and some sea-run populations are also called Salters.
The issue with common names is that they are not universal. To further complicate matters, Brook Trout, Bull Trout, and Lake Trout may have “Trout” in their common name however, they are actually char (genus Salvelinus). True trout have teeth in the roof of the mouth, black spots and tend to have larger scales. However, we still use “trout” in the common name of some of these species that are technically not trout.
Not only can common names cause confusion between species, but there can also be issues across language. Scientific names, on the other hand, are unique to a species and universal across languages. The first word in the scientific name refers to the genus and second, is the species (sometimes a third will be included to indicate subspecies). This naming code method is called Binomial Nomenclature and it’s been around since the 1600s but it was not widely adopted until Carl Linnaeus, a Swedish botanist adopted it and named over 10,000 species.
Generally, the scientific name can be relied upon to be the accurate name for a species but even that can change as new information is gained. For example, relatively new genetic tools have allowed scientists to better classify how different populations are related which sometimes results in re-classifying or re-naming a population. For example, Mountain Suckers in southern Alberta and Saskatchewan were previously known by the scientific name Catostomus platyrhynchus but are now known as Plains Suckers (Pantosteus jordani) and their populations in British Columbia are now known as Cordilleran Sucker (Pantosteus bondi).
So, next time you catch a fish you may wonder where the name came from. Chances are there is a story behind it!
Works Cited
Behnke, R. (2002). Trout and Salmon of North America. New York: Simon & Schuster Inc.
Cavender, T. (1978). Taxonomy and distribution of the bull trout, Salvelinus confluentus, from the American Northwest. California Fish and Game, 64, 137-174.
Moyle, P. B. (1976). Inland Fishes of California. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Richardson, J. (1836). Fauna boreali-americana; or the zoology of the northern parts of British America. Longdon.
Smith, G. R., & Stearley, R. F. (1989). The classification and scientific names of rainbow and cutthroat trouts. Fisheries, 14.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. (2019). Westslope Cutthroat Trout. Retrieved from Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife: https://wdfw.wa.gov/species-habitats/species/oncorhynchus-clarki-lewisi#locations
Young, M. K., McKelvey, K. S., Jennings, T., Carter, K., Cronn, R., Keeley, E. R., . . . Schwartz, M. K. (2018). The Phylogeography of Westslope Cutthroat Trout. The phylogeography of westslope cutthroat trout. Pages 261-301 in Trotter P, Bisson P, Schultz L, Roper B (editors). Cutthroat Trout: Evolutionary Biology and Taxonomy. Special Publication 36, American Fisheries Society, Bethesda, Maryland.
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