<br />492
<br />
<br />The StYltthwestern Naturalist
<br />
<br />vol. 53, no, 4
<br />
<br />individuals occupying flooded mouths of tribu-
<br />taries and larger fish (mean total length =
<br />221 mm) occurring in flowing water habitat,
<br />including riffies, runs, shorelines, and eddies.
<br />Trammel-net sets during our study captured
<br />bony tails in 2004 and 2005 at a higher rate
<br />during the day (0.63 fish/h, SE = 0.15, n = 23
<br />fish) than at night (0.26 fish/h, SE = 0.11, n =
<br />23 fish). Rates of capture of roundtail chubs in
<br />2002-2005 were similar in the day (0.50 fish/h,
<br />SE = 0.068, n = 123 fish) and night (0.46 fish/h,
<br />SE = 0.053, n = 195 fish), and each was similar to
<br />the capture rate for bony tails in daytime. Fewer
<br />humpback chubs were captured during the day
<br />(0.009 fish/h, SE = 0.008, n = 2) than at night
<br />(0.019 fish/h; SE = 0.006, n = 7) in 2002-2005.
<br />Frequency of dorsal-anal-fin-ray counts of bony-
<br />tails were 9/10 (n = 1),10/10 (n = 17),10/11
<br />(n = 5), 11/10 (n = 8), and 11/11 (n = 3).
<br />Roundtail and humpback chubs typically have
<br />dorsal-anal-fin-ray counts of 9/9 and 9/10,
<br />respectively (Douglas et al., 1998), and bony tails
<br />are typically 10/10 (Holden and Stalnaker,
<br />1970), although 5 of 9 presumed humpback
<br />chubs from \VhirlpooI Canyon had a 9/9 count.
<br />We captured a smallmouth bass f'vlicropterus
<br />dolomitm (330 mm total length) in 2004 that had
<br />consumed a bony tail. The partially digested
<br />specimen, ca. 225 mm total length (68% of the
<br />length of the smallmouth bass), was noted
<br />because the caudal fin was protruding from the
<br />esophagus of the smallmouth bass. Another
<br />predation event was noted in summer 2005,
<br />when a smallmouth bass (34] mm total length)
<br />captured just downstream of the Echo Park boat
<br />ramp preyed on a bony tail that was 211 mm in
<br />total length (62% of the total length of the
<br />smallmouth bass).
<br />Bony tails captured in 2002-2005 with all gears
<br />ranged in size ti-om 196 to 336 mm in total
<br />length; mean total length was 259 mm and the
<br />modal size class was 251-275 mm total length.
<br />More than one-half (53%) of bonytaiIs stocked
<br />in 2002-2005 that were individually measured
<br />before release were ::;225 mm in total length, a
<br />size apparently susceptible to predation by larger
<br />smallmouth bass. Bony tails of all sizes would be
<br />susceptible to predation by larger-bodied preda-
<br />tors including the nonnative northern pike Esox
<br />Lucius or the native Colorado pikeminnow
<br />Plychocheilus lucius.
<br />Historically widespread and abundant bony-
<br />tails were rare in the Lower Colorado River Basin
<br />
<br />by the 1970s, with only a few large and old
<br />individuals remaining in main-stem reselVoirs,
<br />such as Lake Mohave (Jordan, 189]; Minckley,
<br />1973; Behnke and Benson, 1983; United States
<br />Fish and \^iildlife Service, 2002). In the Upper
<br />Colorado River Basin, bony tails remained rela-
<br />tively widespread and common in the lower
<br />Yampa River and the Green River downstream of
<br />the Yampa River in Dinosaur National Monu-
<br />ment from 1963 to 1967, when Vanicek and
<br />Kramer (1969) collected 67 individuals
<br />>200 mm in total length. During the same
<br />period, they collected 49 roundtail chubs
<br />>200 mm total length, and 217 smaller chubs,
<br />some of which were presumably bony tails (they
<br />did not differentiate round tail chubs and bony-
<br />tails 200 mm in total length or smaller). By
<br />1967-1973, bonytaiIs in the Upper Colorado
<br />River Basin were only in the lower Yampa and
<br />Green rivers and were rare, with only 36
<br />individuals collected in extensive basin-wide
<br />sampling (Holden and Stalnaker, 1975a,
<br />1975b). As Behnke and Benson (1983:22) point-
<br />ed out, "If it were not for the stark example
<br />provided by the passenger pigeon, such rapid
<br />disappearance of a species once so abundant
<br />would be almost beyond belie[" Negative effects
<br />of altered flows and reduced water temperatures
<br />downstream of Flaming Gorge Dam were postu-
<br />lated as main causes for the demise of bonytails
<br />in affected reaches of the Green River, but as
<br />Kaeding et al. (1986) suggested, reductions in
<br />populations of bonytails also occurred in the
<br />Colorado River and other reaches apparently
<br />little affectcd by tcmpcraturc reductions or othcr
<br />dam-associated factors. Also, the congcneric
<br />roundtail chub and humpback chub survived in
<br />somc reaches where bonytails were once com-
<br />mon, so spccific mcchanisms for the ubiquitous
<br />decline of wild bonytails remain clusive.
<br />Bony tails stocked from hatcheries into the
<br />Grcen River study area suffered a fatc similar to
<br />their wild counterparts. We documented that
<br />hatchery-reared bonytails survived for short
<br />pcriods in thc \vild, but they did not appear to
<br />sUl\ive over wintcr because we captured no fish
<br />released in 2002-2005 in subsequcnt years. We
<br />feel confident in our ability to detect presence of
<br />bony tails in our study area because we used an
<br />array of gears in a widc variety of habitat types in
<br />all seasons except winter. Alternatively, it is
<br />possible that most bony tails moved out of the
<br />study arca and survived, but additional sampling
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