Animal Cards: Animals Introduced Upper Watershed

I have a dark back, polished silvery sides, a red band along the lateral line, shimmers of green and blue in the sunlight and black specks from head to tail. I am almost every color of the rainbow! I have been transplanted from my home waters in the Pacific Northwest. I prefer clear, cold water with plenty of dissolved oxygen and many places to hide. In New Mexico I live in the tributaries of the Rio Grande as well as in several cold mountain lakes. I catch insects in the water or near the surface.

I have a sleek and colorful olive-brown body that sparkles with gold. My upper sides are dotted with black and sprinkled with blue-haloed red and orange spots, although my tail has no spots. I live in coldwater streams and lakes, but I prefer deeper, slower and warmer streams than other species like me. I eat minnows and aquatic insects. My species was introduced to North America in 1883. Now I am commonly found throughout the USA, including some tributaries of the Rio Grande. I am wary and difficult to catch. I hide under a log or in a rock crevice when startled.