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<br />December 2008 <br /> <br />Notes <br /> <br />531 <br /> <br />TABLE I-Location, date, number of specimens (total length, mm), sampling gear, and sampling effort for Iowa <br />darters (EtheostO'lna eJo.ile) captured in the Yampa River, Colorado, and Green River, Utah, 2003-2007. Relative <br />abundance is the percent composition of Iowa darters among all fishes captured; relative abundance of Iowa <br />darters at sites other than Little Yampa Canyon was not calculated because of few captures (Lily Park) or <br />differences in sampling gear. <br /> <br /> Number of specimens Relative <br /> (range of total Sampling abundance Number <br />Location Date length, mm) gear (%) of samples <br />Yampa River, Little Yarnpa Autumn 1 (60) Backpack, seine, 0.03 64 <br />Canyon, River km 161-200 2003 bankshocker <br /> Autumn 40 (41-61) Electric seine 1.0 20 <br /> 2004 <br /> Autumn 148 (38-65) Electric seine 1.1 86 <br /> 2005 <br /> Autumn 166 (34-61) Electric seine 1.4 72 <br /> 2006 <br /> Autumn 108 (28-65) Electric seine 1.0 54 <br /> 2007 <br />Yarnpa River, Lily Park, Autumn 1 (58) Electric seine 11 <br />River km 80-89 2005 <br /> Summer 2 (46,50) Electric seine 5 <br /> 2006 <br /> Autumn 0 Electric seine 8 <br /> 2007 <br />Yampa River, Echo Park, Summer 1 (24) Drift net 207 <br />River km 1 2005 <br /> Summer 0 Drift net 201 <br /> 2006 <br /> Summer 0 Drift net 222 <br /> 2007 <br />Green River, confluence Spring 11 (3-14) Light trap 192 <br />of Cliff Creek, River km 487 2005 <br /> Spring 42 (3-11) Light trap 155 <br /> 2006 <br /> Spring 214 (3-16) Light trap 144 <br /> 2007 <br /> <br />NotTapis stramineus, white sucker Catostom-us com- <br />mersonii, and fathead minnow Pimephales prornelas <br />(all nonnative taxa), A recent population expan- <br />sion of smallmouth bass in the Yampa River <br />(33% of fish in our electric-seine samples, 2003- <br />2007) occurred prior to our sampling and was <br />concurrent with decline of small-bodied or <br />juvenile native fishes including roundtail chub <br />Gila robusta, speckled dace Rhinichthys OSC-UlU5, <br />bluehead sucker Catostomus discobolus, and flan- <br />nelmonth sucker Catostomus latipinnis since 2001 <br />(R. Anderson, pers. comm.), Thus, establish- <br />ment of the Iowa darter, a small-bodied species <br />with a maximum total length of ca, 60 mm, <br /> <br />concurrent with population expansion of pisciv- <br />orous smallmouth bass and abundant age-O life <br />stages that occurred in the same habitat as <br />darters, was something of a conundrum. <br />Proliferation of nonnative fishes is considered <br />a primary reason for demise of the highly <br />endemic and endangered native-fish assemblage <br />in the Colorado River Basin (Carlson and Muth, <br />1989; Valdez and Muth, 2005; Olden et aI., <br />20(6). Although generally not considered to be a <br />problematic species, darters (not the Iowa <br />darter) prey upon newly stocked larvae of <br />American shad Alosa saPidissima (Johnson and <br />Dropkin, 1992). Other small-bodied fishes, such <br />