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7/14/2009 5:01:44 PM
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UCREFRP
UCREFRP Catalog Number
7100
Author
Marsh, P. C. and W. L. Minckley.
Title
Observations on Recruitment and Ecology of Razorback Sucker
USFW Year
1988.
USFW - Doc Type
Lower Colorado River, Arizona-California-Nevada.
Copyright Material
YES
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1 <br /> <br />76 <br />canals makes young razorback suckers suscep- <br />tible to collectors. Now that the species is <br />known from such places, biologists are alert <br />for their occurrence. Interest among biolo- <br />gists along the lower river and extensive infor- <br />mation exchange stimulated by active reintro- <br />duction programs have contributed to and <br />increased the probability that razorback suck- <br />ers will be noted. <br />Drains transport excess water used for <br />leaching of salts from agricultural lands back <br />to the river. They are fed by over-surface flow <br />during irrigation cycles and subsurface perco- <br />lation the rest of the time, which results in <br />slow-moving, enriched aquatic habitats that <br />are often densely vegetated by algae and <br />macrophytes and may be characterized by <br />chemical and thermal extremes (Minckley <br />1979). Drains are far more permanent than <br />canals. Large drains rarely dry and are only <br />sporadically disturbed by cleaning and <br />maintenance operations in ways, such as <br />dredging, that do not involve dewatering. <br />There are, however, no known records for <br />razorback suckers from drains. <br />Origins of Recruits <br />Larvae are most likely passively entrained <br />into canals. Currents at intakes are substan- <br />tial, and larval razorback suckers tend to be <br />near shorelines, at least in reservoirs (Lang- <br />horst and Marsh 1986) and also in the only <br />historic collection of aggregated larvae and <br />juveniles of the species recorded from the <br />mainstream Colorado River in 1950 (R. R. <br />Miller, in Sigler and Miller 1963). Drifting <br />catostomid larvae (Catostomus insignis, Pan- <br />tosteus clarki) in the Gila River, New Mexico, <br />were concentrated by a factor of 6.5 near <br />banks compared with samples in midstream <br />(Bestgen et al. 1987). Reintroduced juvenile <br />razorback suckers also show a marked procliv- <br />ity to move downstream (Brooks 1985). Such <br />behavior would obviously enhance the proba- <br />bility of encountering a withdrawal point. <br />The absence of razorback suckers in drains <br />may result from a lack of sampling. As noted <br />above, these habitats are far more permanent <br />than canals. In addition, they are more com- <br />plex, and thus exceedingly difficult to sample. <br />Drains may also suffer seasonal chemical and <br />physical extremes that are lethal to fishes. <br />They nonetheless often support substantial <br />populations of nonnative species (Minckley <br />GREAT BASIN NATURALIST <br />Vol. 49, No. 1 <br />1979, Matter et al. 1986), including cen- <br />trarchids and ictalurids that are demonstrated <br />predators on young razorback suckers (Os- <br />mundson 1987, Marsh and Brooks, in press). <br />Drains furthermore flow into the river, and <br />larval or juvenile razorback suckers may ei- <br />ther not actively ascend against current or <br />may be blocked from ascent by structures <br />designed to prevent headward erosion. <br />Young razorback suckers in the lower Colo- <br />rado River system may have hatched in a <br />number of places. Downstream, the Senator <br />Wash Reservoir population occupies a small <br />(190 ha) pump-storage impoundment, where <br />they behave similarly to fish in Lake Mohave. <br />A small number of adults (estimated popula- <br />tion 54 ± 22 individuals [95% confidence <br />limits] in 1980-81, which averaged -60 cm <br />TL in 1973-74 [10 fish]) spawn and produce <br />larvae each year, which then disappear before <br />achieving juvenile size (Ulmer and Anderson <br />1985). Some of these could conceivably pass <br />through penstocks of the reservoir and enter <br />downstream intakes that lead to Imperial Val- <br />ley canals. Fish appearing in the Parker, Ari- <br />zona, and Blythe, California, areas could simi- <br />larly originate from reproduction in Lake <br />Havasu (Marsh and Papoulias, in press), pass <br />through epilimnetic penstocks of Parker Dam, <br />and then be diverted into canals at Headgate <br />Rock Dam or Palo Verde Irrigation Diversion, <br />respectively. Other spawning areas are un- <br />known but certainly may exist (Loudermilk <br />1985). <br />Occurrence in the Parker, Arizona, area in <br />1987 of 38 juveniles of a size attributable to the <br />1986 reintroductions, and three in 1988 that <br />were wild fish, underlines a number of needs <br />and factors to consider. First, it is imperative <br />that reintroduced fish be marked, by fin re- <br />moval or with oxytetracycline, for example, so <br />they may be certainly and readily discrimi- <br />nated from naturally produced individuals. <br />Only in this way can the relative contributions <br />of natural and reintroduction recruitment <br />be evaluated. Second, assuming that some or <br />all fish caught in 1987 were reintroduced, <br />stocked and naturally produced larvae and <br />juveniles must behave similarly, since they <br />both appear to have passed from the river into <br />canals. This provides information that razor- <br />back sucker larvae and/or juveniles drift or <br />move downstream after hatching (or introduc- <br />tion), and likely did so in the natural state.
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