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<br />Ptychocheilus lucius, Girard, 1856: 209/ 1859a: 65. Jordan and Gilbert, 1883:
<br />227. Jordan, 1886: 127. Kirsch, 1889: 558. Evermann and Rutter, 1895: 482. Jor-
<br />dan and Evermann, 1896: 225. Gilbert and Scofield, 1848: 492. Meek, 1904: xxxix,
<br />52. Grinnell, 1914: 54. Jordan, et al., 1930: 114. Evermann and Clark, 1931: 53.
<br />Tanner, 1936: 168. Moffett, 1942: 82/ 1943: 182. Dill, 1944: 154. Miller, 1946a:
<br />' 410/ 19526: 29/ 1955: 129/ 1961 a: 544/ 1961 b; 3731 1963a: 11 1964a: 7. Taft
<br />and Murphy, 1950: 147. Winn and Miller, 1954: 274. Koster, 1957: 59. Kimsey and
<br />Fisk, 1960: 469. Lowe, 1960: 172. Follett, 1961: 216. Beckman, 1963: 43. Sigler
<br />and Miller, 1963: 79. Miller and Lowe, 1964: 133/ 1967: 133. Minckley, 1965a:
<br />48/ 1971: 184. Barber and Minckley, 1966: 322. Branson, et al., 1966: 300.
<br />Bradley and Deacon, 1967: 230. Minckley and Alger, 1968: 94. Minckley and Dea-
<br />con, 1968: 1427. Eddy, 1969: 86. Vanicek and Kramer, 1969: 193.
<br />Body somewhat compressed dorso-ventrally. head flattened and elongated.
<br />Mouth large, nearly horizontal. Dorsal and anal fins almost always with nine rays.
<br />Dorsal fin far back, originating behind insertion of pelvic fins. Scales small,
<br />embedded (especially on breast, belly, and nape). Skin leathery in texture. Lateral
<br />line with 80 to 95 scales. Pharyngeal arches delicate, the lower ramus elongated
<br />and slender; teeth fragile and elongated, 2, 5-4, 2.
<br />Color olivaceous, darker above. Lower sides yellowish and belly whitened,
<br />especially anteriorly. Young with a dark, wedge-shaped•basicaudal spot, absent in
<br />adults.
<br />The former importance of this species as the "top carnivore" of the
<br />' entire Colorado River system, and its essential extinction in Arizona in the
<br />pasYdecade or so, prompts the relatively complete set of references given
<br />above and a substantial coverage of its known biological features and
<br />former abundance and distribution. The quotation which follows is from
<br />Miller (1961 b):
<br />"The Colorado squawfish or 'salmon', as it is locally known, is one
<br />of the world's largest minnows and was an important source of food for
<br />the aborigines that lived along the lower Colorado and Gila rivers (Miller,
<br />1955). It probably approached a maximum length of 6 feet and a weight
<br />of nearly 100 pounds, although record weights aver the past 35 years
<br />are not known to have exceeded 40-50 pounds. At one time this preda-
<br />tory, pikelike fish was common in the river channels throughout the
<br />Colorado River basin, wherever there was sufficient depth and current.
<br />Until about 1911, the species was so abundant in the lower Colorado that
<br />individuals got into the irrigation ditches and were pitchforked out onto
<br />the banks by the hundreds for use as fertilizer. Vast numbers of 'salmon,'
<br />bonytails, and humpback suckers perished in tleis fashion or died when
<br />they were unable To re-enter the river from the irrigated lands (testimony
<br />of Walter K. Bowker, Jr., Imperial Valley Irrigation District, March 23,
<br />1950). In the early days the Indians used to tie 2 sticks together, with
<br />neriing between, and dip 'salmon' out of the river. From ] 91 1 to 1920,
<br />'salmon' were numerous in the Gila River near Dome, according to
<br />R. C. Richardson, Bureau of Reclamation employee and long-time fisher-
<br />man. Earlier, between about 1845 and 1885, the species occurred more
<br />widely in the Gila River basin in Arizona (Miller, 1955), and it may still
<br />persist in the deep canyons of Salt River where 2 young were caught
<br />by R. R. Miller and party on May 18, 1950 (at mouth of Cibicue Creek,
<br />Gila County; UMMZ 162774). A sharp decline ire abundance was noticed
<br />in the lower Colorado in the 1930-35 period, during the construction and
<br />completion of Hoover Dam and the great 1934 drought, at the height of
<br />which the river was reduced to a shallow trickle at Yuma (Dill, 1944).
<br />Specimens of Ptychocheilus weighing 6 to 34 pounds (Wallis, 1951, p.
<br />90) were caught along the lower Colorado in the 1930's and 1440's but
<br />records of the species after 1949 are scarce. In the Gila River basin 'the
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