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<br />, <br /> <br />Recovery Program and the San Juan Basin <br />Recovery Implementation Program. The only <br />remaining population of (partially) wild razor- <br />back sucker inhabits the lower through middle <br />Green River and lower Yampa River, but despite <br />evidence of successful reproduction through the <br />annual capture of larvae and supplementation <br />with hatchery-reared fish, it continues to decline <br />(Bestgen et al. 2002). Elsewhere in the UCRB, <br />wild fish have not been collected since 1981 in <br />the lower Gunnison River, 1995 in the Colorado <br />River near and downstream of its confluence <br />with the Gunnison River, and 1988 in the <br />middle and lower San Juan River (McAda 2003, <br />Platania et al. 1991), but small populations have <br />been maintained or reintroduced by stocking in <br />those reaches (Ryden 1997, Burdick 2003). <br />Continued presence in the lower ends of other <br />tributaries to Lake Powell (Bestgen 1990) is <br />unknown. Monitoring of larval production has <br />documented recent razorback sucker reproduc- <br />tion, presumably by stocked fish, in both the <br />lower Gunnison River (Osmundson 2002) and <br />the middle and lower San Juan River (Bran- <br />denburg et al. 2003). <br />Flannelmouth, bluehead, and white suckers <br />are the most widely distributed catostomids in <br />the UCRB. Flannelmouth sucker and bluehead <br />sucker remain common in the main-stem rivers <br />and larger tributaries below Flaming Gorge <br />Reservoir, but some populations are declining <br />and both species are of special concern in Utah <br />and Wyoming (Bezzerides and Bestgen 2002). <br />White sucker is common in the Colorado, <br />Gunnison, Yampa, and middle and upper Green <br />Rivers, especially in upstream reaches. It also <br />has been reported in the Duchesne River and in <br />and below Navajo Reservoir at the upper end of <br />the San Juan River. <br />The status and distribution ofthe remaining <br />UCRB catostomids are poorly documented and <br />less certain. Mountain sucker, a Colorado spe- <br />cies of special concern, is mostly restricted to <br />headwater tributaries throughout much of the <br /> <br />Green River Subbasin. Although rarely found <br />in main-stem rivers, individual specimens of <br />mountain sucker had been reported in the Green <br />River near the confluence with the Yampa River <br />and in the White River near and above the <br />confluence with Piceance Creek. In the Colo- <br />rado River Subbasin, it has been reported in <br />headwaters of Dirty Devil River (Fremont <br />River) in Utah and the Colorado River in or <br />below Lake Granby, Colorado, but its historical <br />or continued presence at the latter location <br />remains unconfirmed. Utah sucker is restricted <br />largely to portions of the Duchesne River drain- <br />age and upper reach of the Fremont River, with <br />incidental occurrences reported in the Green <br />River in or below the lower end of Dinosaur <br />National Monument. Longnose sucker is report- <br />ed or presumed present in most middle and <br />upstream portions of the Gunnison River Basin <br />and is especially common in reservoirs of the <br />Aspinall (Curecanti) Unit, but it has been col- <br />lected as far downstream as River Kilometers 48 <br />to 67 (Burdick 1995). It also has been reported <br />in headwaters of the Colorado River in and <br />above Lake Granby and probably is present in <br />the river and tributaries for some distance below <br />the lake. Longnose sucker no longer appears to <br />be present in the upper reaches or tributaries of <br />the Green River above Flaming Gorge Reservoir <br />as historically reported. <br />The distribution and ecology of catostomid <br />larvae and young-of-the-year juveniles in the <br />UCRB have not yet been summarized, except <br />for razorback sucker in the Green River by Muth <br />et al. (1998). However, selected information <br />can be found in various publications and reports <br />by regional researchers (e.g., McAda 1977, <br />Carlson et al. 1979, Miller et al. 1982a, Haynes <br />et al. 1985, Carter et al. 1986, Tyus et al. 1987, <br />Gutermuth et al. 1994, Burdick 1995, Muth and <br />Snyder 1995, Modde 1996, Bestgen et al. 2002, <br />Bezzerides and Bestgen 2002, Osmundson <br />2002, Brandenburg et al. 2003). <br /> <br />A Combined Developmental Interval Terminology <br /> <br />It is often convenient and desirable to divide <br />the ontogeny of fish into specifically defined <br />intervals. If the intervals selected are used by <br />many biologists as a frame of reference, such <br />division can facilitate communication and <br /> <br />comparison of independent results. The largest <br />intervals, periods (e.g., embryonic, larval, <br />juvenile, and adult), are often subdivided into <br />phases and sometimes into steps (Balon 1975b <br />and 1984); the word "stage," although com- <br /> <br />5 <br />