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<br /> <br />, ,!1H <br />ni~"; <br />ill <br /> <br />i.....i.~...i., <br />I', <br />f' . <br /> <br />l <br />j', <br /> <br />, , <br /> <br />'1': <br />J.'l <br />.11' <br /> <br />3 86 Recovery of Long-lived Species <br /> <br />1989a; Wick et al. 1983; Haynes et al. 1984; <br />Nesler et ale 1988), and field (Hendrickson <br />and Brooks 1987; Tyus and Haines 1991) and <br />laboratory experiments (unpub. data) suggest <br />active downstream movements for larvae six <br />weeks old and older. <br /> <br />Juveniles <br /> <br />Juvenile Colorado squawfish from about 60 <br />to 400 mm TL (Tyus et al. 1982b) include age- <br />l to about age-5 fish. Little is known of smal- <br />ler juveniles (size range 100-300 mm) be- <br />cause they are apparently difficult to capture <br />and too small to radio-tag and track. Down- <br />stream concentrations of postlarvae indicate <br />that upstream movement of juveniles must <br />occur to repopulate upstream reaches. Such <br />probably occurs in the late juvenile or early <br />adult stage (i.e., subadult, 30-50 cm TL), as <br />suggested by highest concentrations of these <br />larger juveniles in lowermost sections of the <br />Green River and highest numbers of adults in <br />upstream sections (Tyus et al. 1987). Collec- <br />tions from the White and Yampa rivers (\v. H. <br />Miller et al. 1982a, b) tend to support this <br />hypothesis (Tyus 1986), and such a partial <br />separation of life stages may reduce can- <br />nibalism. Small juveniles are nonetheless <br />sometimes captured in the same backwater <br />habitat used by younger life stages (Holden <br />1977b; Tyus et ale 1982b), whereas larger <br />juveniles are not uncommon in shoreline <br />habitats similar to those occupied by adults <br />(Tyus et al. 1987). <br /> <br />Adults <br /> <br />After spawning, adults in the Green River re- <br />turn to the areas they previously occupied in <br />spring (Wick et al. 1983; Tyus and Karp <br />1989; Tyus 1990), where they also reside in <br />winter (Valdez and Masslich 1989; Wick and <br />Hawkins 1989). There are no indications that <br />adults stray any significant distances from the <br />specific reaches they occupy during the non- <br />migratory period. Large adults used compara- <br /> <br />bly large areas of habitat, often moving aboU1 <br />within a 5-km or longer reach of stream it <br />their day-to-day activities. Radiotelemetryoi <br />twenty-two fish (38.5-70.7 cm TL, N = 2325 <br />observations) indicated that they were mOS1 <br />often associated with shorelines (Tyus et al <br />1984). Comparable data on habitat use wa~ <br />presented by Holden and Wick (1982), Tyus <br />et al. (I982b, 1984), Wick et al. (1983, 1985), <br />and Valdez et ale (1987). <br /> <br />Distribution and Abundance <br /> <br />General Observations <br /> <br />Colorado squawfish were recorded from the <br />Green River as early as 1825, when Colonel <br />W. H. Ashley's party subsisted on fish caught <br />by angling (Morgan 1964). Dellenbaugh <br />(1908) reported their capture during the 1871 <br />Powell Expedition, and D. S. Jordan (1891) <br />caught them near the town of Green River, <br />Utah, in 1889. Residents of Vernal, Utah, re- <br />marked that squawfish were abundant in the <br />Green River; individuals taken there reached <br />a documented 52 pounds (23.6 kg), and a <br />photograph of a large specimen was provided <br />by Vanicek (1967). Seethaler (1978) sum- <br />marized interviews with local people in Green <br />River, Wyoming; Brown's Park, Colorado; <br />and other places, who reported fish of thirty <br />pounds (13.6 kg). He also reported an inter- <br />view with Mr. Rial Chew, who observed a <br />squawfish 5.5-6 ft (1.7-1.8 m) long, caught <br />just below the confluence of the Green and <br />Yampa rivers in 19II in what is now Di- <br />nosaur National Monument, and presented a <br />photograph of a 25-pound (1I.4-kg) adult <br />taken in the same area in 1928. Mr. Chew <br />also said that he caught several of the fish by <br />hand during a flood. Figure 19-4 is a recently <br />discovered photograph of a large specimen <br />captured in the lower Yampa River in the late <br />1930S (Burton 1987), where the species was, <br />and is, regularly taken. Older residents ofVer- <br />nal and surrounding communities reported <br />