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<br />GREAT BASIN NATURALIST
<br />provided by USFWS, USBR, and ASU. We
<br />thank the many biologists working on the
<br />lower Colorado River (acknowledged in text)
<br />for information leading to this publication.
<br />RAZORBACK SUCKERS IN THE
<br />LOWER COLORADO RIVER
<br />Natural Occurrences, 1962-88
<br />Razorback suckers (>50 cm total length
<br />[TL]) are presently common in Lake Mohave,
<br />Arizona-Nevada, and larvae of the species
<br />(<15 mm TL) are seasonally abundant. Size-
<br />groups between the larval and adult life stages
<br />are, however, essentially absent from col-
<br />lections, despite intense sampling. Adults
<br />comprised an average of ^-25% of total fishes
<br />caught in annual trammel net samples be-
<br />tween 1975 and 1988 (Minckley 1983, Minck-
<br />ley and Marsh, unpublished data). Larvae
<br />occupy the littoral zone of Lake Mohave
<br />(Bozek et al. 1984, Marsh and Langhorst
<br />1988), where 10-100 or more can be attracted
<br />to a strong light in a few minutes at night
<br />(Langhorst and Marsh 1986). They rarely
<br />occur in open water of the reservoir;
<br />Langhorst and Marsh (1986) captured only
<br />a single specimen in 22 tow-net hours in 1985,
<br />although larvae were at the same time com-
<br />mon in near-shore habitats. Four juvenile
<br />specimens (three preserved, 33 to 54 mm TL;
<br />ASU 11567 and 11568), collected by AZGFD
<br />personnel in July 1987 (T. Liles, AZGFD,
<br />personal communication), are the only natu-
<br />rally spawned juveniles recorded from Lake
<br />Mohave since the 1950s.
<br />In marked contrast, except for a small resi-
<br />dent population in Senator Wash Reservoir,
<br />California (Medel-Ulmer 1980, Ulmer 1987),
<br />there are confirmed records since 1962 for
<br />only 42 adult razorback suckers from the en-
<br />tire lower Colorado River mainstream and as-
<br />sociated habitats downstream from Davis
<br />Dam (Fig. 1), despite intensive fisheries sur-
<br />veys in that area. Sixteen adults were from
<br />Lake Havasu proper: five averaging 56.9 cm
<br />TL were caught in 1962; four > 50 cm TL were
<br />observed in 1975; three averaging 65.4 cm
<br />were electrofished in 1976; one (56.9 cm) was
<br />collected from the Bill Williams Arm of the
<br />reservoir in 1979; two (unmeasured) were
<br />caught by anglers in 1984 (Ulmer and Ander-
<br />son 1985); and a single fish 50.6 cm TL was
<br />Vol. 49, No. 1
<br />gill-netted in 1986 (M. Giusti, CADFG,
<br />personal communication). Riverine reaches
<br />yielded 23 individuals: 12, all >50 cm TL, but
<br />unmeasured, were taken by various means
<br />from Blythe, California, downstream to Impe-
<br />rial Reservoir from 1969 to 1985 (Ulmer and
<br />Anderson 1985); nine others, mostly >60 cm
<br />TL, were angled, electrofished, trammel-
<br />netted, or observed in the Needles-Topock
<br />Gorge reach from 1972 through 1985 (Minck-
<br />ley 1983, Ulmer and Anderson 1985); and
<br />two, 57.2 and 61.0 cm TL, were trammel-
<br />netted from Laughlin Lagoon, Nevada, an ar-
<br />tificial backwater about 8 km below Davis
<br />Dam in 1986 (M. Burrell, NVDOW, personal
<br />communication). An additional three adults,
<br />-50 cm TL, were caught from the Central
<br />Arizona Project (CAP) Granite Reef Aqueduct
<br />in October 1986 (USBR 1986), which began
<br />withdrawing water in 1983 from the Bill
<br />Williams Arm of Lake Havasu. Two of the last
<br />were 25+ years of age, as determined by
<br />otolith analysis (original data; following
<br />methodology of McCarthy and Minckley
<br />1987), and thus originated from Lake Havasu.
<br />There are no indications that adult razorback
<br />suckers in the lowermost Colorado River are
<br />occurring less frequently in the 1980s than in
<br />the 1960s, which is likely a reflection of low
<br />adult mortality and individual longevity (to at
<br />least 44 years; McCarthy and Minckley 1987).
<br />Larval razorback suckers are as rare as
<br />adults in the lower Colorado River down-
<br />stream from Lake Mohave. None was found in
<br />shoreline surveys with bright light at night in
<br />Lake Havasu in 1988. Razorback suckers ac-
<br />counted for only 0.56% of 6,617 larval speci-
<br />mens caught in tow-net samples in Lake
<br />Havasu and upstream riverine reaches in 1985
<br />and 1986 (Marsh and Papoulias, in press).
<br />Eight individuals were taken in 1985 and 29 in
<br />1986. Although catch per unit effort varied
<br />between years and among stations, similar
<br />abundances were indicated in riverine and
<br />reservoir habitats, and no areas of larval con-
<br />centration were evident (Marsh and Papou-
<br />lias, in press). Two larval razorback suckers,
<br />- 15 mm TL, were also identified among
<br />5,036 larval specimens from the CAP canal in
<br />1987 (G. Mueller, USBR, personal commu-
<br />nication).
<br />Twenty-four juvenile razorback suckers,
<br />- 15 to 37.1 cm TL, fish of sizes not otherwise
<br />known from Lake Mohave or elsewhere in the
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