<strong>Gone</strong> <strong>Fishing</strong>!Fresh Water Fish— Trout —Wildlife Conservation: TroutThe fish shown on the stamp is a rainbow trout. Therainbow received its name from the pink to red stripe, oftenwith orange or light purple highlights, that runs alongits side. Originally native only to North America west ofthe Rockies, it has been introduced the lakes and rivers ofworld, even achieving “pest” status in some locales where itis replacing native species. It prefers cold fast water streamsand rivers but can be found in deep lakes as well. Althoughthe average size is about 12–15 inches long with a weightof 2–12 pounds, rainbows are known to grow to 30 inchesand weigh as much as 20 pounds. Lake trout have beencaught that were four feet in length and weighed more than50 pounds! Esteemed for its flavor, the rainbow trout is notonly good tasting but it is an exciting, hard fighting gamefish, prone to jumping completely out of the water whenhooked. Because they do not reproduce well outside of theirnative habitat, rainbows are routinely restocked in the earlyspring throughout the United States.— Trout —Flags of Our Nation: IdahoAlthough a particularly tasty fish, a cutthroat is not thefighter portrayed leaping out of the water on the stamp. Infact, although the cutthroat trout is the state fish of Idaho,it is its cousin, the rainbow trout, that is pictured on thestamp. The cutthroat or one of its subspecies has beenhonored as the state fish not only of Idaho but of Colorado,Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.Unfortunately, no state stamp has managed to include one.Cutthroat trout can be found in waterways from the westernmountain ranges down to the Pacific Ocean. All share a red“cut” on the lower jaw just below their gill covers.Nature of America:Pacific Coast Rain Forest: Cutthroat TroutOriginally the most diverse trout species in North Americawith 13–15 distinct subspecies, cross breeding withother trout such as rainbow (known as “cut-bows”) andcompetition from yet others such as brown and brook trouthas led to some decline in native populations. The speciesname, Onchorhynchus clarkii, honors the 1804–1806 Lewisand Clark Expeditions. Both Meriwether Lewis and WilliamClark have subspecies of the cutthroat named in theirhonor: the Westslope cutthroat (O. clarkii lewisi) and theCoastal cutthroat (O. clarkii clarkii). Lewis’s first detailedlook at the Westslope came over dinner. He reported:“[Private Silas] Goodrich had caught a half dozen very finetrout.... These trout are from sixteen to twenty-three inchesin length, precisely resemble our mountain or speckledtrout in the form and position of their fins, but the specksare of a deep black instead of red or gould colour of thosecommon to the U’ States.” Also seen on the pane, but notspecifically included on a stamp, are some Chinook salmonparr or young fish (the tail of one is about to disappear intothe trout’s mouth).— Trout —Endangered Species:The rarest of trout species in the United States, this isanother member of the trout family that originally made itshome along the West Coast, from about San Francisco downinto New Mexico and Arizona. By the 1950, however, it haddisappeared from the northern extent of its range and wasfound only in four streams along the headwaters of the GilaRiver in New Mexico; it was declared endangered in 1967.From a low of about 20 stream miles of habitat in 1950, itnow occupies approximately 65 stream miles in New Mexicoand has been reclassified as “threatened.” The gila trout cangrow to about 17 inches in length and is a yellowish browncolor that can appear coppery or gold.
<strong>Gone</strong> <strong>Fishing</strong>!Fresh Water FishNature of America: Pacific CoastEndangered Species:
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