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7/14/2009 5:01:44 PM
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UCREFRP
UCREFRP Catalog Number
7040
Author
Miller, R. R.
Title
Man and the Changing Fish Fauna of the American Southwest
USFW Year
1961
USFW - Doc Type
Papers of the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts, and Letters
Copyright Material
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Changing Fish Fauna of the Southwest 373 <br />dates from about 1500 (Cope and Yarrow, 1875, p. 639; Gehlbach and <br />Miller, 1961; see also Henderson and Robbins, 1913). <br />FISH FAUNAL CHANGES <br />Fish faunas have undergone considerable alteration in the Ameri- <br />can Southwest but documentary evidence of these changes has not <br />heretofore been available. Depletion has been widespread, many spe- <br />cies are threatened with extermination, and others have already be- <br />come extinct. The introduction of a large number of alien species into <br />a generally depauperate fauna has resulted in species replacement in <br />many waters, especially in the larger impoundments. <br />0 <br /> <br /> <br />DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE FOR COLORADO RIVER SYSTEM <br />The most impressive documentation for a changing fish fauna per- <br />tains to southern Arizona, where repeated collections spanning a <br />century provide a progressive record of the change (Tab. I-III). This <br />record dramatically demonstrates the sharp decline in native fishes. <br />In many places, notably the lower Colorado River, introduced kinds <br />are now flourishing. The data are taken from the observations and <br />records of the explorations during the middle of the nineteenth cen- <br />tury (principally from the Pacific Railroad Survey reports), the ac- <br />counts by Gilbert and Scofield (1898) and Snyder (1915), the unpub- <br />lished data (1904) of F. M. Chamberlain,a the records and specimens <br />(accumulated since 1926) in the Museum of Zoology, University of <br />Michigan, and the data presented by Dill (1944). In addition to the <br />progressive change shown for single stations, there is also the picture <br />obtained from the testimony of old-timers as to the former occurrence, <br />distribution, and abundance of fishes now nearing extinction. Testi- <br />mony of this nature was particularly sought by me during a 2y,-- <br />month survey of Arizona in the spring of 1950. <br />COLORADO AND GILA RIVERS, YUMA (TABLE I) <br />The primitive fish fauna of the Colorado River near Yuma evi- <br />dently comprised very few species. The huge Colorado squawfish, <br />Ptyehocheilus lucius Girard, the bonytail, Gila robusta elegans Baird <br />and Girard, and the humpback sucker, Xyrauchen texanus (Abbott), <br />are the only fishes mentioned in the early surveys, and they are the <br />' Deposited in the Division of Fishes, U. S. National Museum, Washington, <br />D. C. <br />f <br /> <br />9
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