Somewhere in Colorado’s backcountry, biologists are actively searching for a fish everyone assumes is extinct.
In 1889, ichthyologist David Starr Jordan documented a massive golden trout at Twin Lakes, Colorado, up to 12 pounds, with a bright yellow stripe down its flanks. He collected seven specimens. Within 15 years, rainbow trout were introduced, the population collapsed, and the yellowfin cutthroat vanished. It hasn’t been confirmed anywhere since.But this same detective work has already paid off twice. Museum DNA comparisons brought back Colorado’s state fish and rediscovered another “extinct” cutthroat lineage hiding in plain sight. Now biologists are surveying over 200 waters across the Arkansas River basin, testing modern fish against those 130 year old Smithsonian specimens, hoping for a third match.
âYellowfin Cutthroat are a much lamented loss. I have been hearing about them for as long as I can remember. Genetics has made finding them again feasible. The example of the Pyramid lake cutthroat rediscovery has motivated several searches for lost populations. There have been a few finds but the Yellowfin Cutthroat I think may be toast.
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