9683

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 9683
• Author: Valdez, R. A.
• Title: a Survey of Fish Collections in the White River, Utah.
• USFW Year: 1984.
• USFW - Doc Type: Logan, UT.
• Copyright Material: NO

I:
I~
I;
I
I~
I
I-
I
I
I
I
I-
I.
I
I.
I
14
I
I,

- .

10

Lanigan and Berry 1979, ERI 1982), longitudinal trends in species
composition over time are perceptible.
The most apparent temporal and spatial trends are seen in the
introduced red shiner. Crosby (1975a) found a predominance of red shiners
(79-93%) in the lower 30 miles of river, with a shift to speckled dace
(19-35%) an~ flannelmouth suckers (32-48%) from RM 30 to the Utah-Colorado
border at about RM 70.
Lanigan and Berry (1979) found a similar predominance of red shiners
but the pattern extended further upstream to Hell's Hole Canyon where the
species made up 60% of the catch. Similarly, ERI found a predominance of
red shiners near the confluence (63%) and at the Mt. Fuel Bridge (57%). A
sample taken at the Utah-Colorado border in 1981 showed that red shiners
still dominated the catch, but only with 32% composition. This pattern
suggests that the red shiner has dominated the fish fauna of the lower White
River since at least the early 70's. Its populations appear to vary yearly
within sample sites. It is abundant in the downstream reaches and its
numbers appear to be greatly diminished above the Utah-Colorado border as
indicated by the studies in Colorado (Prewitt et ale 1978).
The second fish species exhibiting distributional trends is the native
speckled dace. In no study cited did the speckled dace compose over 18% of
the catch downstream of Asphalt Wash (RM 45). Upstream of this site, the
speckled dace became more numerous and the red shiner less numerous.
Catches further upstream in Colorado (ERI 1982) were dominated by speckled
dace, although this is not reflected in Prewitt et ale (1978).