what kind of fish are in the great salt lake in utah
Great Salt Lake Because of the Great Salt Lake's high salinity, it has few fish, but they do occur in Bear River Bay and Farmington Bay when spring runoff brings fresh water into the lake. A few aquatic animals live in the lake's main basin, including centimeter-long brine shrimp (Artemia franciscana). Their tiny, hard-walled eggs or cysts (diameter about 200 micrometers)[46] are harvested in quantity during the fall and early winter. They are fed to prawns in Asia,[38] sold as novelty "Sea-Monkeys," sold either live or dehydrated in pet stores as a fish food, and used in testing of toxins, drugs, and other chemicals.[4] There are also two species of brine fly[47] as well as protozoa, rotifers, bacteria and algae.
Taylor Creek (Lake Tahoe) Each autumn, from late September through mid-October, mature kokanee salmon (Oncorhyncus nerka), transform from silver-blue color to a fiery vermilion, and run up Taylor Creek, near South Lake Tahoe. As spawning season approaches the fish acquire a humpback and protuberant jaw. After spawning they die and their carcasses provide a feast for gatherings of mink (Neovison vison), black bears (Ursus americanus), and bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus). These non-native salmon were translocated from the North Pacific to Lake Tahoe in 1944, and Taylor Creek is their primary spawning stream in the Tahoe basin.[8] Kokanee appear to compete for forage with the recently established threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout in Fallen Leaf Lake.[9]