7601

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7601
• Author: Minckley, W. L.
• Title: Native Fishes of Arid Lands
• USFW Year: 1991.
• USFW - Doc Type: A Dwindling Resource of the Desert Southwest.
• Copyright Material: NO

Figure 62. Yaqui catfishlbagre del Yaqui, ca. 35 cm in total length, from the Rio
Sirupa (Rio Aros) mainstream, Chihuahua. This species, considered of special
concern, almost certainly lived in the past in San Bernardino Creek, Arizona. It
remains relatively common in the Rio Yaqui system.

sucker, and Yaqui catfish are joined by Pacific
shad/sardinita del Pacifico and Sinaloan cichlid/mojarra
sinaloense in the lowermost Rio Yaqui. No studies
have appeared on the ecology of any of these five
species in Mexican waters, but as already covered,
the roundtail, sucker, and catfish have conspecific or
close relatives in streams of the United States, where
some data are available.

Habitats of Colorado squawfish (Figs. 63-64)
include deeper pools, eddies, riffles, sloughs, quiet
backwaters, creek mouths, swift runs, and shallows
along shore. This is the largest North American
minnow, achieving lengths of almost 1.8 m and
perhaps 45 kg in weight. Young move into
embayments and backwaters along the channel, and
feed mostly on crustaceans and insects, shifting to

Figure 63. Colorado
squawfish/charalote caught
near the mouth of Cherry
Creek, Arizona, near the
turn of the century. This
endangered species is now
extirpated from the lower
Colorado River basin.
Photograph provided by
W. L. Minckley.

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