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7/14/2009 5:01:45 PM
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UCREFRP
UCREFRP Catalog Number
7379
Author
Tyus, H. M.
Title
Potamodromy and Reproduction of Colorado Squawfish in the Green River Basin, Colorado and Utah
USFW Year
1990
USFW - Doc Type
Transactions of the American Fisheries Society
Copyright Material
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<br />1044 <br /> <br />in distant, canyon-bound river reaches. It is pre- <br />sumed that the long-distance potamodromous mi- <br />grations in the Green and Yampa rivers evolved <br />as an adaptation to desert stream environments <br />(Smith 1981; Tyus 1986). Radio-tagged fish that <br />were tracked before, during, and after the spawn- <br />ing season usually returned to their former spring <br />locations in the autumn, and many tagged fish <br />were recaptured in the same habitats in spring and <br />autumn. These fish presumably occupied the same <br />home ranges during winter. The paucity of large <br />fish in the lower Green River below the spawning <br />areas and the prevalence oflarge fish in the Yampa <br />River above the spawning areas suggested a net <br />downstream movement of young and a move- <br />ment upstream of larger fish (about 400 mm TL) <br />to augment the adult stocks. <br />Twenty-eight Colorado squawfish tracked in my <br />study (18.3%) were classified as sedentary during <br />a particular year, but five of these were classified <br />as migrants to one of the known spawning areas <br />in other years; hence, they were mature fish that <br />spawned less than annually. I presume that the <br />remaining 23 were (1) mature fish that also did <br />not migrate annually (migrated in other years), (2) <br />fish that spawned in the location in which they <br />resided (did not migrate), or (3) immature fish. <br />Larger fish of adult size (>435 mm) may have <br />been immature. Seethaler (1978) found that only <br />50% offemales less than 503 mm TL were mature, <br />and Tyus and McAda (1984) found that one 510- <br />mm fish was an immature male. Two fish in my <br />study (385 and 421 mm) were smaller than the <br />smallest mature fish captured (435 mm), and were <br />therefore presumed to be immature. Some of the <br />remaining 20 fish were also presumably imma- <br />ture, because 3 were smaller than the average ripe <br />male (555 mm), and 17 were smaller than the <br />average ripe female (654 mm). Thus, nonmigra- <br />tory behavior of Colorado squawfish was linked <br />with non-annual spawning or sexual immaturity. <br />Although migration of commercially valuable <br />fishes has been intensively studied (Leggett 1977; <br />Baker 1978, 1982; McKeown 1984), much has yet <br />to be learned about causal mechanisms of migra- <br />tion (Quinn and Tollman 1987; Dodson 1988), <br />particularly for rare freshwater forms such as Col- <br />orado squawfish. My work indicated that migra- <br />tion of Colorado squawfish occurred each year <br />during summer solstice. Although no analyses were <br />performed to further evaluate effects of photope- <br />riod on migration, this factor may be important <br />in the reproductive cycle of the Colorado squaw- <br />fish, as has been noted for other cyprinids (peter <br /> <br />TYUS <br /> <br />1983). In addition, spawning migrations of radio- <br />tagged Colorado squawfish were correlated with <br />an average response time of about 28 d after spring <br />peak flows, at water temperatures of90C or more. <br />Although not a part of my study, other factors may <br />also provide migratory cues, including inputs of <br />chemical substances from snowmelt and runoff <br />and of neutral oils from inundated shorelines (Lake <br />1967). These may act in concert with high river <br />levels and increasing water temperatures to influ- <br />ence the intrinsic mechanisms associated with <br />Colorado squawfish spawning migrations. <br />Homing of Colorado squawfish from various <br />locations to the spawning reaches in Desolation- <br />Gray and Yampa canyons is presumed to be an <br />orientation to environmental conditions in the <br />spawning reaches. Movements of fish to spawning <br />sites in both up- and downstream directions are <br />also suggestive of an olfactory orientation mech- <br />anism, as Harden-Jones (1968) and others (re- <br />viewed by Hasler and Scholz 1983) proposed. <br />Some of the behaviors associated with olfactory <br />orientation in salmonids were exhibited by Col- <br />orado squawfish, and the presence of springs and <br />other water inputs in the two spawning reaches <br />may have provided olfactory cues. Tributaries such <br />as Florence Creek and Warm Springs may provide <br />gross cues for long-distance piloting to the spawn- <br />ing reach, and more subtle cues unique to specific <br />spawning sites may further guide the fish once it <br />is in the reach. Although unknown for Colorado <br />squawfish, more subtle cues may include several <br />environmental components, perhaps even repro- <br />ductive by-products from previously hatched <br />young (Foster 1985), all of which may constitute <br />a home-site olfactory bouquet. As also suggested <br />by Wick et al. (1983), Colorado squawfish embry- <br />os or larvae may imprint on odors in the areas in <br />which they develop and later orient to these odors <br />when they return as migrating adults. <br />Colorado squawfish migrations were predomi- <br />nantly downstream (76.2%). After spawning, adults <br />returned to their upstream home range, where they <br />presumably overwintered. When coho salmon <br />Oncorhynchus kisutch recognize odors on which <br />they have imprinted in water currents, they mi- <br />grate upstream (positive rheotaxis) in response, <br />and exhibit negative rheotaxis in the absence of <br />this odor (Johnsen 1978). The behavior of Colo- <br />rado squawfish that I noted is suggestive of home- <br />site imprinting-radio-tagged fish cruised up- and <br />downstream over wide areas, overshooting Des- <br />olation-Gray Canyon, and Yampa Canyon <br />spawning sites, then backtracking to them. If such <br /> <br />.' <br /> <br />h <br />
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