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crease in young of two common native fishes, bluehead sucker (Catostomus <br />discobolus) and speckled dace (Rhinichthys osculus), and a decrease in <br />young Colorado squawfish. During 1989, another year of low flows in the <br />Colorado River, abundance of the three common introduced minnows further <br />increased (Fig. 2.) Valdez (1990) noted a similar relationship between <br />flows and abundance of red shiners, fathead minnows and sand shiners in <br />lower reaches of the upper Colorado River (Potash to lower Cataract Can- <br />yon) during 1985-1988. <br />McAda and Kaeding (1989) examined the relationship between peak flows and <br />the relative abundance of post-larval fishes in the upper Colorado River <br />(Green River confluence to Grand Junction). They regressed peak discharge <br />against mean numbers of fish per area seined. Their results indicated <br />differing responses to peak flow among species, and between upper and <br />lower river reaches within species, The overall pattern, however, support- <br />ed earlier observations that the more common non-native fish species were <br />in greatest abundance in summers following low spring flows and were in <br />lowest densities during periods following high spring flows. Unfortunate- <br />ly, even following extremely high record flows, these non-natives were not <br />eliminated. Nonetheless, the importance of high flows in reducing densi- <br />ties of these species was demonstrated. For Colorado squawfish, however, <br />the trend was reversed: abundance of young-of-the year (YOY) squawfish in <br />the lower reach increased with increased peak flows, although it was <br />reduced following record-high discharges (Fig. 3). When the two record <br />high-flow years were excluded from the analysis, catch rates of YOY were <br />highly correlated with peak flow (r = 0.98; P < .01). Years of highest <br />squawfish YOY abundance were 1985 and 1986 when peak flows at the State <br />line gage were 38,200 and 32,800 cfs, respectively. McAda and Kaeding, <br />13