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DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE There is general agreement among researchers that the distribution and abundance of these two fishes in Colorado have changed within the last 70 years. David Starr Jordan (1891) reported the razorback sucker to be ab- undant in the main river channels of the upper Colorado River in 1889. Hubbs and Miller (1953) refer to a Jordan collection of razorback suckers from Rio Animas (probably Animas River) in Colorado in 1891. They further stated that hybrid suckers between razorback suckers and suckers of the genus Catostomus were collected from the Uncompahgre River near Delta, Colorado in 1889, and from the Colorado River near the Fruitland Bridge in 1947. Presence of hybrid suckers suggests the presence of parental razorback suckers. By 1953, Hubbs and. Miller reported that the razorback sucker was uncommon and becoming scarce in the upper basin. Kidd (1974; 1977) reported razorback sucker collections in the early 1970's from the Colorado River two miles above and two miles be- low DeBeque, Colorado, from the mouth of Plateau Creek (Colorado River tribu- tary), from the Walter Walker Wildlife Area on the Colorado River in Grand Junction, and from the Gunnison River below Delta, Colorado. He also related information from Ralph Vernon of Delta, Colorado who supplied fish for mink food and once took a large number of razorbacks near Delta. Kidd concluded that razorback suckers have declined from abundant to extremely rare in the last 70 years. Razorback suckers were collected from the Green River during the Flaming Gorge Reservoir pre-impoundment study conducted by Banks (1964). He concluded the species was rare in the area. A post-impoundment study conducted by Stalnaker and Holden (1973) revealed only large adults in the Green River and no reproduction. Minckley and Deacon (1968) reported that razorback suckers were eliminated from the Green River above Flaming Gorge by the stream reclamation - 4 -