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ABUNDANCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF ENDEMIC FISH IN THE WHITE RIVER, Steven H. Lanigan Charles R. Berry, Jr. Utah Cooperative Fishery Research Unit 21 Utah State University Logan, Utah Abstract. A fisheries survey of the White River was made during the summer, 1978. The lower 24 mi (39 km) of river between the eastern border of the Uintah-Ouray Reservation and the confluence of the Green River was surveyed by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Vernal Fisheries Assistance Office. The upper 42 mi (4Z km) between the Reservation border and the Utah-Colorado state border was surveyed by the Utah Cooperative Fishery Research Unit. The objective of both studies was to determine the abundance and distribution of endemic fish during spring runoff, when -&A4a5*fish might ascend the river to spawn, and following runoff, when larval fish might be present. Sampling was begun just after the peak of runoff (June 8) and continued approximately monthly thereafter to late September. Seining, electrofishing, and a combin- ation of these two techniques were used to capture fish. Results of both studies are presented. The fish population of the White River was similar to that in other eastern Utah streams. Red shiners were most abundant, followed by roundtail chubs, flannelmouth suckers, speckled dace, fathead minnows, carp, and channel catfish, in decreasing order of magnitude. Bluehead suckers, black bullheads, careen sunfish, brown trout and Colorado squawfish comprised less than 5% of the total number of fish. Native fish were more abundant at upstream stations; exotic fish were more abundant at downstream stations. Thirteen adult squaw- fish were captured or observod and one possible humpback chub x bonytail chub rv-,;"ad was oaptured in the lower 24 mi of the river. No juvenile or larval forms of rare fish were found. l/ Presented at the 1979 Annual Meeting, Bonneville Chapter of the American Fisheries Society, Salt Lake City, Utah, Feb. 1-2. 2/ The Unit is supported jointly by Utah State University, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.