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<br /> <br />Upper Mainstem: Since the late 1960's two suspected bony tail <br />have been, collected from the upper Colorado mainstem; one adult cap- <br />tured and returned in Black Rocks by USFWS in August 1984 and one <br />adult angled by a fisherman near Wahweep, Lake Powell in May 1985, <br />and preserved by the UDWR. The definitive identity of these speci- <br />mens is unknown to us. <br /> <br /> <br />San Juan-Colorado: A suspected adult bony tail was captured in <br />Cataract Canyon in August 1985 along with a suspected YOY (Valdez et <br />ale 1985). The morphology of this fish is very similar to suspected <br />specimens from the Green River (Tyus et al. 1982), and the presence <br />of bony tail genes is undoubtable. However, the fish is different <br />than the Lake Mojave form. <br /> <br />Remarks: The bony tail form may no longer exist in the upper <br />basin, except perhaps as an incidental species with only a few old <br />individuals surviving. <br /> <br />Razorback Sucker <br /> <br /> <br />Green: Although rare in the Green River, the razorback sucker is <br />more common there than elsewhere in the upper basin, as evidenced by <br />catch records. 'The capture of 250 razorback from 1981-85 indicates <br />their distribution was sporadic, and absent from turbulent canyons. <br />The center of distribution occurs in flatwater stretches of the upper <br />Green River and localized areas of major tributaries, where three <br />spawning reaches were confirmed by the collection of 64 razorback in <br />breeding condition, of which 34 had strippable sex products. A com- <br />parison of catch data with other native suckers and the Colorado <br />squawfish indicates that the razorback was less than 1% as abundant <br />as the flannelmouth sucker and less than 10% as abundant as the Colo- <br />rado squawfish. The lack of smaller size classes (less than 400 mm <br />TL) suggests a lack of recruitment, although some larval razorback <br />were collected below spawning areas in 1984. <br /> <br />'- <br /> <br />Upper Mainstem: Few razorback have been collected in the upper <br />Colorado River since 1981. There continues to be a lack of young <br />fishes, indicating reproductive success, and most of the fish captured <br />appear to be rather old adults. Studies of fish larval drift in 1983 <br />near Parachute, CO yielded one "possible" YOY razorback sucker frqm the <br />same location as the capture site of the dult in 1981, RM 220.7 (Valdez <br />et al. 1985). Additional investigation w th electrofishing, seining, <br />and drift netting from RM 188.2 to 193 fa led to yield any razorback <br />sucker (Valdez et al. 1985). <br /> <br /> <br />-26- <br /> <br />