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<br />SUMMARY <br /> <br />.' <br /> <br />This represents the fourth and last annual report of a five year study investigating the early life <br />ecology of the bonytail and razorback sucker at Cibola High Levee Pond. The work in 2004 <br />included: telemetry studies, collection of physical water quality measurements, zooplankton <br />samples, netting fish, the collection of scale samples for aging, predator/prey tank tests and a <br />preliminary analysis of the data base. <br /> <br />Juvenile bonytail and razorback suckers were collected this year, demonstrating that natural <br />recruitment occurred for both species. Young from 2004, 2003, and 2002 were all represented in <br />our sample. Unfortunately, we discovered that largemouth bass had also spawned. <br />Approximately a hundred young bass were observed during a snorkeling trip in late July. Bass <br />ranged in size from an estimated 5 to 50 cm and were distributed throughout the pond. <br /> <br />Attempts to determine the cover,preference of30-cm bonytail met difficulties. Spawning <br />occurred a month earlier than previous years due to an unseasonably warm spring. The <br />combination of warmer temperatures and the vigors of spawning attributed to higher stress and <br />associated mortality of study fish. We replicated our procedures under hatchery conditions on <br />the chance that transmitter attachment was at fault but we experienced similar post-release <br />mortality, including the control fish. This supports the long held contention that bonytail are <br />extremely fragile during and after spawning. <br /> <br />In the predator-prey tests, young of every species tested ate razorback sucker larvae. The most <br />aggressive predators tested in 2004 (n=8 species) were young of the year green sunfish, channel <br />catfish, and common carp. Bullfrog tadpoles (Rana catesbeiana) and red swamp crayfish <br />(Procambarus clarkii) also ate razorback sucker larvae and eggs, showing predation is not <br />limited to predatory fish. This work illustrates that early life stages are quite vulnerable to small <br />predators that have easy access to shallow nursery habitats. <br /> <br />Remaining work will be finished this coming summer and a final report describing CHLP and <br />the ecology of these fish will be completed by the end of2005. We offer our: assistance to the <br />Fish and Wildlife Service in the pond's renovation and support for the creation of additional <br />refuge ponds. Funding for this work ends September 2005. <br /> <br /># <br />.... <br />