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Habitat variation <br />Differences in catch rates between run and riffle habitats were assessed for species that likely <br />serve as forage for Colorado pikeminnow; these were bluehead sucker, flannelmouth sucker, <br />roundtail chub, white sucker (including white sucker x native sucker hybrids), and salmonids <br />(brown trout, rainbow trout, and mountain whitefish combined). No comparisons were made <br />within Stratum 1, where no riffles were present within the three sample reaches. <br />On a river-wide basis, catch rates of bluehead and flannelmouth suckers, the two most <br />abundant species, were significantly higher (T-K, P < 0.05) in riffles than in runs (Figure 9). <br />In downstream strata 2-6, where bluehead suckers made up a large majority of forage-size <br />fish, very few were captured from run habitats. In the two uppermost Colorado River strata <br />(strata 10 and 11), catch rates within runs and riffles were nearly the same. The capture rate <br />in riffles of the Gunnison River stratum was especially high. Bluehead sucker catch rates in <br />riffles were significantly higher (P < 0.05) than in runs only in strata 5-9 and 12. For <br />flannelmouth suckers, the difference in catch rate between the two habitat types was not as <br />pronounced as for bluehead suckers. The mean catch rate in riffles appeared to be higher than <br />in runs in nearly all strata; only in uppermost Stratum 11, were catch rates in runs apparently <br />higher than in riffles. However, within individual strata, no differences were statistically <br />significant (P > 0.05). <br />For roundtail chub, capture rates in upstream strata 7-12 were similar both among strata and <br />between riffles and runs within strata. Catch rates in Stratum 11 appeared to be higher in runs <br />than in riffles but the difference was not significant (P < 0.05). In downstream strata 1-6 <br />capture rates were very low in both habitat types (Figure 10). White suckers displayed a <br />pattern similar to roundtail chub: few captures in either habitat type in the lower strata and <br />little difference in capture rates between habitat types in upstream strata 7-10 and Stratum 12. <br />Only in Stratum 11 was the capture rate in runs significantly different (higher) than in riffles <br />(Figure 10). Salmonids were common only in uppermost Stratum 11; capture rates there were <br />significantly higher (P < 0.05) in riffles than in runs (Figure 10). <br />Body Condition of Native Fish <br />Spatial Variation <br />Relative body condition generally increased in an upstream direction for each of the three <br />primary native species (Figure 11). In the Gunnison River stratum, mean condition of each <br />species was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than in any Colorado River stratum group. Within <br />the Colorado River stratum groups, results from pairwise comparisons were varied. For <br />bluehead sucker, mean relative condition within each stratum group was significantly higher <br />than in all more downstream stratum groups. This was also the case with flannelmouth <br />suckers, with the exception that the two most downstream stratum groups were not <br />significantly different from one another. For roundtail chub, sufficient data were only <br />available for the two upstream stratum groups; these were not significantly different (P > <br />0.05). Length weight regression coefficients for the three primary native species are provided <br />in Table 1. <br />18