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<br />Utah in October. This is the first record of this species in the San Juan <br />River. <br />Catch rates for all species were down riverwide from 1992 (Table 9 in <br />Appendix I, Table 10 on page 34 in Ryden and Pfeifer: 1992 annual progress <br />report). Catch rates were highest for flannelmouth sucker and bluehead sucker <br />in Reach III. Channel catfish had their highest catch rates in Reach IV, <br />while common carp were most abundant in Reach II. Catch rates for the six <br />most abundant species showed a downward trend from Reach III to Reach VII. <br />However, flannelmouth sucker and red shiner showed a large spike in catch rate <br />in Reach VII (Figures 5 and 6). Catch per unit effort for all species was <br />probably affected by very clear water conditions on all trips and in all <br />reaches, except for Reach VI (Bluff to Mexican Hat) which was sampled one day <br />after a major storm and was very turbid with no visibility below the water <br />surface. <br /> <br />Size Structure <br /> <br />Collections made in OM's contained slightly more than 20% of all fish <br />captured for the four most abundant species in the last three years: <br />flannelmouth sucker = 21%; bluehead sucker = 21%; channel catfish = 29.2%; <br />common carp = 24.8% (Figure 7). In terms of sheer numbers, flannelmouth <br />sucker made up the bulk of these fish in all river reaches (Figures 7 and 8). <br />In each of the last three years, more juvenile (JUV) flannelmouth sucker <br />were collected than adults (1991 = 60.6% JUV, 1992 = 69.4% JUV, 1993 = 68.1% <br />JUV). Bluehead sucker have also shown greater numbers of juvenile fish over <br />the last three years (1991 = 58.2% JUV, 1992 = 53.0% JUV, 1993 = 59.0% JUV). <br />The channel catfish population had fewer juvenile fish in 1993 than in <br />previous years collections (1991 = 42.3% JUV, 1992 = 41.1% JUV, 1993 = 29.9% <br />JUV). Considerably fewer juvenile than adult common carp were collected in <br />1991-1993 (1991 = 1.1% JUV, 1992 = 4.8% JUV, 1993 = 29.0% JUV), with the <br />highest number being collected in 1993. <br />Both flannelmouth sucker and channel catfish showed distinct shifts in <br />population size-structure from larger to smaller fish in more downstream <br />reaches. Flannelmouth sucker populations were dominated by juveniles in <br />Reaches II through VII with this domination becoming most pronounced towards <br />Lake Powell (Figure 9). This corresponds with a decline in the mean TL from <br />Reaches I to VI in 1991 and 1992 (Figure 10). Juvenile channel catfish were <br />almost non-existent in the upper two reaches of the river but had become the <br />dominant size class by Reach IV in 1991 and 1992, and by Reach VI in 1993 <br />(Figure 11). Channel catfish also showed a pronounced decline in mean TL from <br />Reaches I to VII (Figure 12). This suggests that young channel catfish may be <br />more prone to drift or displacement by high flows than young flannelmouth <br />sucker, and are being transported to lower reaches of the river. <br />Bluehead sucker have a much less distinguishable pattern for size class <br />distribution riverwide. Like flannelmouth sucker the population is dominated <br />by juvenile fish in Reaches II-VII, with the exception of Reach V in 1993 <br />(Figure 9). However, the juvenile to adult ratio remains fairly constant in <br />reaches II-VII within a given year. This is reflected in the fairly straight <br />trend in mean TL for 1991-1993 (Figure 10). Of the four most abundant species <br />in the San Juan River, bluehead sucker seem to have been least affected in <br /> <br />12 <br /> <br />1 <br />I <br />,I <br />I <br />,I <br />f <br />i <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />,I <br />t <br />I <br />I <br />1 <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />