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Gila cypha was the last fish to be described from the <br />mainstem Colorado River (Miller, 1946), the type specimen caught <br />in 1932 by angling within Grand Canyon National Park (GCNP) [at <br />Bright Angel Creek, now 141.3 river kilometers (RKM) below Glen <br />Canyon Dam) (Carothers and Brown, 1991:95). The largest <br />population of G. cypha is in the Marble Canyon section of GCNP, <br />at the junction of the Little Colorado (LCR) and mainstem <br />Colorado rivers, 99 RKM below Glen Canyon dam (Fig. 1--2b) While <br />the life history of G. cypha is enigmatic (discussed in Douglas, <br />1993), the Grand Canyon population is least known of all. For <br />example, G. cypha inhabiting the Colorado River at the LCR <br />confluence were not even recognized as a reproducing population <br />until 1975 (R. R. Miller, unpubl. field notes, Special Coll., <br />Hayden Library, ASU). Even then their numbers were not considered <br />substantial; the largest population of G. cypha at that time was <br />believed to inhabit the Colorado River near Grand Junction (based <br />upon 32 specimens captured in 1974; J. E. Johnson, Bur. Land <br />Manag. Tech. Note 280, 1976, unpubl.). <br />This study was undertaken to estimate numbers of adult G. <br />cypha within the LCR, define the nature and extent of their <br />movements within that river (where reproduction occurs annually), <br />and test the hypothesis that both local movements and residency <br />are restricted to the reproductive period. Habitat use is then <br />discussed in context of Glen Canyon Dam, constructed in 1963 <br />(completed in 1968) to impound Lake Powell at the northern extent <br />of Grand Canyon. <br />METHODS AND MATERIALS <br />The study river.---The LCR drains 141,155 km2 of eastern and <br />northern AZ and western NM, and flows 412 km from headwaters to <br />confluence with the Colorado River (GCNP, Coconino Co., AZ; Figs. <br />2a, 2b). Unless in flood, the LCR is seasonally dry in much of <br />its upper 390 km, a result of modern land-use practices and water <br />impoundments initiated at the turn of the century (Miller, 1961). <br />However, flow in the lower 21 km is perennial, from numerous <br />groundwater springs which drain 72,520 kmZ of the Black Mesa <br />north and east of Flagstaff, AZ. The largest of these (i.e., Blue <br />SFrings, at LCR RKM 21; Fig. 1--2b) has a disch=--ge of 6.1-6.6 <br />m /sec (Johnson and Sanderson, 1968). <br />The LCR at base flow is saline (conductivity exceeds 5000 <br />umhos/cm') and travertine-forming. Carbonate precipitates onto <br />surfaces and in the water column, the latter giving the river a <br />distinct turquoise color. Carbonate deposition (a function of C02 <br />degassing and photosynthetic activity of algae and cyanophyceans) <br />produces an intricate and confusing water chemistry (Kubly and <br />Cole, 1979). Travertine accumulations over geologic time define <br />pools, runs, and rapids, and generate scalloped waterfalls and <br />2