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<br />and declined to 15,600 cfs by June 14. Water temperature taken at the point <br />of collection for ripe females with strippable eggs ranged from 13.5 to 18 C <br />in the Green River (average 16 C) and was 15 C in the Duchesne River. <br /> <br />General habitat use of the razorback sucker was observed from capture locations <br />and radiotelemetry. Very few razorbacks were captured during the nonbreeding <br />season when they apparently select deeper waters in the shoreline and main <br />channel runs and eddies. No razorbacks were captured in whitewater canyons <br />of the Green Basin, and the fish evidently does not prefer these habitats. <br />The best habitat information during nonbreeding season was obtained from <br />one razorback sucker radiotracked from April to June 1980, in the Duchesne <br />and Green rivers. It selected depths ranging from 0.6 to 2.4 m and <br />velocities ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 mise Preferred substrate types were <br />sand/silt in shoreline and main channel habitats. The fish selected midchannel <br />and deep shoreline habitats in the Duchesne River. During flood stage it <br />moved into the mixing zone of the Duchesne and Green rivers (eddy) and was <br />last observed on a submerged sand bar (run) in the Green River in August. <br />Data obtained from captured razorback sucker also indicated a preference of <br />sand/silt substrates, usually in quiet water habitats. A water velocity <br />less than 0.3 m/s was recorded for 80% of razorbacks captured. <br /> <br />DISCUSSION <br /> <br />Determinations of razorback sucker distribution and relative abundance have <br />been encumbered because of the difficulty in capturing these fish on a <br />year-round basis. This is illustrated by Vernal collections in the Green <br />River from 1979-81, in which only five razorback were collected in a basin- <br />wide systematic sampling program, but 92 were collected in early spring <br />samples taken in the vicinity of spawning areas (then unknown) during the <br />same calendar years. A concerted effort in 1984 yielded 102 razorbacks in a <br />1 1/2 month period. It is yet unknown whether these spawning aggregations <br />occur in many localized areas throughout the basin, or are limited to only <br />the few areas we have identified to date. <br /> <br />The sizes of razorbacks collected in the Green River are much smaller than <br />those from the upper mainstem Colorado River and from the lower Colorado <br />River Basin. Minckley (1983) indicated that razorbacks in the lower Colorado <br />River appeared to be old fish, and reported males as large as 640 rom and <br />females up to 740 rom TL. McAda and Wydoski (1980) reported that razorbacks <br />in the Upper Colorado River mainstem were also large fish, with males as large <br />as 520 mm and females up to 620 mm TL. Valdez et al. (1982) found no <br />difference between males and females with respect to size, but reported that <br />razorbacks in the upper mainstem Colorado appeared old, and averaged 554 mm <br />TL and reached sizes of 635 mm. Mature razorbacks collected in spawning <br />condition from the Green River were smaller than those reported in other <br />locations, as noted previously by McAda and Wydoski (1980), with males <br />averaging 502 mm (largest 512 mm) and females averaging 541 rom (largest 586 rom). <br /> <br />200 <br /> <br />