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<br />5-6 <br /> <br />before the maximum river temperature of 21.5 C was reached. <br />No drifting fishes were observed the sixth week of sampling suggesting <br />that drift activity was completed. But, a second pulse of drifting fishes <br />was observed in late August and early September as densities rose to 1.3310 <br />fishes/lOOO cubic feet of water. This pulse appears to be related to a <br />slight increase in river temperature observed about the same time. Drift <br />density and corresponding river temperature decreased after the first week <br />of September. Valdez and Carter (1983) observed a similar second pulse of <br />drifting fishes with a short-term temperature increase. <br />A similar plot of mean weekly drift densities for the three most common <br />larval fishes (bluehead sucker, flannelmouth sucker, and roundtail chub) <br />shows the contribution of each of these species to the total drift (Figure <br />4). Details on sample size, means, and standard deviations for mean weekly <br />drift densities for the five most common larval species are presented in <br />Table B-7. Each of the three species contributed equally to the first major <br />drift pulse observed in late July and early August, but the second pulse in <br />early September was made up of primarily bluehead suckers. The drift of all <br />three species decreased substantially in mid August. <br />Based on the results of this study and those of Valdez and Carter <br />(1983), it appears that larval fish drift in this region of the Upper <br />Colorado River occurs during the accelerated warming period when river <br />temperatures rise sharply from about 16 to 21 C during a continual decrease <br />in river discharge. Subsequent pulses in larval drift might occur with <br />short-term rises in river temperature of as little as 0.5 C. <br /> <br />5.3 Diel Drift <br />Drift net sampling over a 24-hour period was conducted at the proposed <br />JH-1 site to evaluate diel patterns of drifting fishes. Paired samples <br />