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<br />490 <br /> <br />The Southwestern Naturalist <br /> <br />voL 53, no, 4 <br /> <br />out the reach (4.6-m long, 1.8-m deep, 4,7-mm mesh <br />size) in spring, summer, and autumn, Deeper main- <br />channel habitat "vas sampled with e1ectrofishing gear <br />and with b"ammel nets in summer and autumn during <br />3-4 trips/year. Inflatable rafts were equipped with <br />Smith-Root e1ectrofishing units and a 5-kW generator, <br />which produced 3-6 amperes. Each side of the liver <br />from river km 585.4 at the head of Lodore Canvon <br />downstream to river km 538 at the lower end of <br />\\ihirlpool Canyon was sampled in summer and <br />autumn 2002-2005, with follo\\:up sampling in 2006 <br />and 2007. We set trammel nets (22.9-m long, 1.8-m <br />deep, 25-mm-mesh inside panel, 225-mm,mesh out~ide <br />panels) throughout the same area but concentrated <br />most effort in Upper 'v\11irlpool Canyon from river km <br />551.6 to river km 543.9. Trammel-net sampling effort <br />was variable each year but totaled 634 net h (one net <br />set for 1 h is a net h) from 2002 to 2005 in V\lnirlpool <br />Canyon. Nets were set in recirculating eddies adjacent <br />to riffles or in low-velocity pools near canyon walls. Day <br />(nets set 0800-1700 h) and night (nets set after 1700 h <br />or before 0800 h the following day) sets were used; nets <br />were cleared of fish at intervals of :52 h, All fish <br />captured were identified, and most were weighed and <br />measured, Bony tails were PIT-tagged ,md measured <br />(total length, plus weights on a few fish) at the hatchery <br />prior to stocking. All endangered fishes were scanned <br />for the presence of a PIT tag and were tagged if none <br />was found. <br />We conducted analvsis of covariance (ANCOVA) and <br />compared least-squar'es means to determine if differ- <br />encesexisted between length:weight relationships (i.e., <br />condition) between bony tails captured :511 days after <br />release in September 2004 and for fish stocked in June <br />2005 and captured 4 months later in September. We <br />could not compare differences in the length:weight <br />relationship for June-stocked bony tails in 2005 com- <br />pared to recaptures made in September 2005 because <br />individual bonyt:ai.ls weights for June-stocked fish were <br />not available. Log transformations oflengths or weights <br />were not used because they did not improve fit-of- <br />regression relationships, Changes in length ofbonytails <br />recaptured in 2005 that were at large :54 months were <br />assessed, , <br /> <br />RESULTS AND DISCUSSION-A total of 24,422 <br />bony tails were released in the study area during <br />2002-2005 (Table 1), which represents about <br />(me-half of those fish released in the Upper <br />Colorado River Basin in the same period. <br />Survival of bony tails in our study area apparently <br />Vias low in all years because the maximum <br />interval between release and recapture for <br />individual fish was :54 months. One bonytail <br />was captured in 2002 in Browns Park 4 days after <br />release and 0.4 river kIn downstream of the <br />release area. It had fresh wounds, presumably <br />from a wading-bird attack, and was moribund <br />upon capture. A.lthough sampling in Lodore <br />Canyon and downstream in 2002 and 2003 <br />occurred prior to stocking in each year, no other <br /> <br />fish from releases in 2002 or 2003 were recap- <br />tured in subsequent years in Lodore Canyon in <br />2003-2007. An additional 10,000 smaller bony- <br />tails were released in the lower Yampa River in <br />1999 (mean total length = 114 mm) and 20,000 <br />in 2000 (mean total length = 82 mm; P. V. <br />Badame and]. M. Hudson, in litt.). All of those <br />smaller bony tails were coded-wire tagged, but <br />none were detected during our sampling in <br />reaches. of the Green River just downstream of <br />there. <br />In September 2004, we sampled the Green <br />River within 11 days after two b'TOUPS ofbonytails <br />were stocked at Echo Park boat ramp (river km <br />554.6, just downstream of the Yampa River). <br />Most bonytails captured with raft electrofishing <br />were concentrated v.rithin 300 m downstream of <br />the boat ramp, where we captured 16 individuals, <br />and observed but did not net ca. 60 more. We <br />quit sampling until we were ca. 800 m down- <br />stream to reduce stress on concentrated bony- <br />tails; electrofished individuals displayed flared <br />gills and were rigid. Bony tails were captured <br />from ca. 100 m upstream of the boat ramp <br />downstream 9.7 river kIn to just below Jones <br />Hole Creek, a rate of dovmstream dispersal of ca. <br />1 km/ day, which was considerable, and poten- <br />tially, biologically significant. We also sampled <br />with trammel nets in Vvl1irlpool Canyon during <br />that time and captured 9 bonytails, 15 roundtail <br />chubs Gila robusta, and 1 humpback chub Gila <br />CYPha. That was likely the first time those three <br />native species have been captured from a single <br />habitat area since Kaeding et al. (1986) captured <br />the last verified bOny1ail in the Upper Colorado <br />River Basin in 1984. Bony tails captured in <br />autumn 2004 appeared healthy over the short <br />post-stocking period. <br />In 2005, 2,580 bony tails were stocked at Echo <br />Park in June. We captured 10 of those bonytails <br />byelectrofishing (all in August, none in Septem- <br />ber) and 35 by trammel netting (conducted only <br />in September). The June-stocked bOn}1ails were <br />found 517 river km downstream 8 weeks later in <br />August 2005, but most fish were captured near <br />the release site. No bony tail captured in August <br />was in reproductive condition. No bony1aiI <br />stocked in 2002-2005 has been detected in <br />subsequent similar sampling in 2006 and 2007 <br />in the study area. <br />T. E. Chart and ].S. Cranney (in litt.) also <br />noted low survival of adult bOn}1ails that were <br />radio tagged and released into the Green River in <br />