Fish
Major fish species include the cui-ui lakesucker, which is endemic to Pyramid Lake, the Tui chub and Lahontan cutthroat trout (the world record cutthroat trout was caught in Pyramid Lake). The former is endangered, and the latter is threatened. Both species were of critical importance to the Paiute people in pre-contact times. As they are both obligate freshwater spawners, they rely on sufficient inflow to allow them to run up the Truckee River to spawn, otherwise their eggs will not hatch. Diversion of the Truckee for irrigation since the early 20th century has reduced inflow such that it is now rarely sufficient for spawning. Due to the construction of Derby Dam in 1903 to divert water to croplands in Fallon, the Lahontan cutthroat trout (the "salmon-trout" as described by Frémont) became extinct in Pyramid Lake and its tributaries due to the immediate lowered water level, increased water salinity, and lack of fish-ladders on the dam (for upstream spawning runs), and were replaced with Lahontan cutthroat trout from hatcheries. Fish populations are now sustained by several tribally-run fish hatcheries.
Read more about this topic: Pyramid Lake (Nevada)
Famous quotes containing the word fish:
“Salerio. Why, I am sure if he forfeit thou wilt not take his flesh. What’s that good for?
Shylock. To bait fish withal—if it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Everything seems beautiful because you don’t understand. Those flying fish, they’re not leaping for joy, they’re jumping in terror. Bigger fish want to eat them. That luminous water, it takes its gleam from millions of tiny dead bodies, the glitter of putrescence. There’s no beauty here, only death and decay.”
—Curtis Siodmak (1902–1988)
“The fish in neighboring streams and lakes are so voracious, it is said, that fishermen have to stand out of sight behind trees while baiting their hooks.”
—For the State of Florida, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)