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<br />32 <br /> <br />The relationship between flow and reproduction of other rare fish <br />has not been established primarily because insufficient young have been <br />found to indicate success. Available information indicates that the <br /> <br />bony tail chub and razorback sucker require large rivers for their <br />existance. This statement is supported in that relatively few of these <br /> <br />species are found in tributaries, even the Yampa River, as compared to <br /> <br />the numbers found in the mainstem Green and Colorado rivers. This in- <br /> <br />formation suggests that these large river forms either have a direct <br />requirement for particular flows and/or that the habitat needed for <br /> <br />these fishes is maintained by large flows. No young-of-the-year Colo- <br />rado squawfish have been found in the Yampa River above its mouth, even <br />though they reproduced in the Green River when it contained almost 100% <br /> <br />Yampa River water in 1963 (Figure 11). It appears therefore that large <br /> <br />river habitat is very important to the maintenance of these rare fish <br />populations. Since the Green River is now regulated by Flaming Gorge <br />Dam, the Yampa represents most of the Green's flow below Echo Park for <br />most of the spring and summer. i Therefore, it is the Yampa, and other <br />\ <br /> <br />downstream tributaries such as the Duchesne and White rivers, that are <br /> <br />maintaining the Green as a "1arge river." and thereby maintaining one <br /> <br />of the last potential habitats for these large river fishes. <br /> <br />Data at present suggests the bony tail chub may be very near ex- <br />tinction in the Green River. Vanicek (1967) collected over one hundred <br /> <br />adults in the three years of his study in Dinosaur National Monument. <br />These fish were used in a taxonomic study by Holden and Stalnaker (1970). <br />Holden (1973) collected only 36 adults in the four year of his study in <br /> <br />t' <br />$, <br />t <br />.~, <br />~- <br />