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PREFACE The upper Colorado River system has become the focus of much concern. The presence of endemic species and their threatened and endangered status, coupled with a manifest pressure to reduce the already over-allocated water resources for additional agricultural, domestic, mining and industrial uses, and for the development of some of the largest fuel deposits (coal, oil, oil shale, uranium) in the United States, has produced a situation of potential conflict between develop- ment and environmental maintenance. There exists today a significant amount of information concerning many aspects of the upper Colorado River ecosystem. This large basin encompasses more than 109,000 square miles and has a unique resident fish population, for more than two-thirds of the native fish are endemic. This document represents part two of a more comprehensive three-part study of the status, life history, and habitat requirements of endan- gered and threatened fishes of the upper Colorado River system. The complete report consists of the following: Part 1 - An Indexed, Annotated Bibliography of the Endangered and Threatened Fishes of the Upper Colorado River System. Part 2 - An Evaluation of the Status, Life History, and Habitat Requirements of the Endangered and Threatened Fishes of the Upper Colorado River System. Part 3 - Detailed Distribution Maps, Keyed to the Literature, of Endangered and Threatened Fishes of the Upper Colorado River System. This report (part two) is an evaluation of the status, life history, and habitat requirements of the threatened and endangered fishes of the upper Colorado River system. The focus is, of course, the threatened and endangered fishes of the upper Colorado River system; and a full appreciation would not be possible without an adequate knowledge and familarity with the ecosystems in which they live and reproduce. This report attempts to present the total picture of both the endangered fishes and the upper Colorado River system. The report is organized V11