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t68 The .Southurrs(rrn A'o(uralit! vol. 2t1, no. 2 <br />concentration o[ salts. Hubbs (1960) found archaeological remains of young <br />razorback suckers abou[ 82.5 km upstream from the Salton Sea in Fish Creek <br />Cali(omia, indicating successful reproduction in that system during high <br />lake stages. The species re-entered the Salton Sea when it re-filled in 1905-07 <br />(Evermann, ]916), but disappeared with increasing salinity by 1929 (Cole- <br />man, 1929). In the mainstream Gila River, razorback suckers occurred near <br />Yuma (Evermann and Rutter, 1895), in the now-dry reach between Yuma <br />and Gila Bend (Bartlett, 1854), in the Phoenix area where they were called <br />"buffalo" or "bu[falofish" (Miller, ]961; Minckley, 1973), in archaeological <br />sites near Casa Grande (Minckley, 1976), and almost to New Mexico (Kirsch, <br />1889; Chamberlain, 1904) (Fig. 1). They also ranged far upstream in the <br />Verde River (Minckley and Alger, 1968; K'agner, 1959), to well above the <br />present Roosevelt Lake on Tonto Creek (Hubbs and Miller, 1953) and the <br />Salt River (Ellison, 1980), and to the upper San Pedro River (Miller, 1955, <br />1961). <br />Razorback suckers remained locally abundant until recently. They were <br />common in irrigation channels of the Palo Verde Valley, California, until <br />the 1940s (Loudermilk, pers. comm.). In the early 1900s they were so com- <br />mon in canals in the Phoenix area and in the Salt River above Roosevelt <br />Lake that "wagon loads" were collected by local people (Miller, 196]; Elli- <br />son; 1980). Carl L. Hubbs collected an adult in Roosevelt Lake in 1926 <br />(UMMZ 94749, 71.5 cm TL). T. T. Fraizer, local resident, considered the <br />species extirpated in Roosevelt Lake by 1950 (Hubbs and Miller, 1953; R. R. <br />Miller, pers. comm.). As late as 1999 a commercial fishery [or razorback <br />suckers that ranged to 6 kg individual weight existed in Saguaro Lake, cen- <br />tral Arizona (Hubbs and Miller, 1953). In 1966 that reservoir was drained <br />and none was present (Minckley and Deacon, 1968). The species persisted as <br />adults in the Verde River until at least ]954 (Wagner, 1954), and in canals <br />northeast o{ Mesa, Arizona, .to about that same time (Vardell Blau, Mesa, <br />Arizona, pers. comm.). Young razorback suckers were last preserved from the <br />Gila River drainage in 1926 (Hubbs and Miller, 1953; 5 specimens, 52-100 <br />mm TL, UMMZ 94877). <br />7n the Colorado River mainstream, razorback suckers "were doing well" <br />in the 1940s and early 1950s (Wallis, 1951; Jonez and Sumner, 1959). Large <br />concentrations of spawning adults were observed in Lake Mohave and in the <br />river below that reservoir (Douglas, 1952), and the species was considered <br />common (Mo[te[t, 1942; Dill, 1944; Jonez et al., 1951; Wallis, 1951). <br />Minckley and Deacon (1968) noted that no specimens shorter than about <br />90 cm TL had been caught from the lower Colorado River "in recent years," <br />and this pattern o[ only large individuals being present has generally per- <br />sisted to date. Few razorback suckers were taken or observed in Lake Mead <br />in the 1970s (Anonymous, 1973), and McCall (1980) and Sue Morgenson <br />(AGFD, pers. comm.) recorded only 18 large individuals (55.2 to 67.0 cm TL <br />for 11 fish measured) while sampling that reservoir itt 1976-80. Between <br />Davis Dam and Lake Havasu, 8 adult razorback suckers (54.5-68.0 cm TL for <br />7 fish measured) were recorded by CFGD in 1972-76. Lake Havasu popula- <br />tions also are low (Guenther and Romero, 1973; Mike Donahoo, USFWS, <br />pers. comm.); none was taken there or in the river below in a 1975-76 survey <br />May 1988 Minckley-S~a~us of Razorback Sucker 169 <br />by Minckley (1979). Downstream from Lake Havasu a 2.05 kg razorback <br />sucker (not measured) was taken in 1969 near Blythe, California, an angler <br />caught a 56.0 cm TL specimen in the Palo Verde Valley in 1976, and <br />another ca. 60 cm fish was found dead there in 1977. Atrammel-net survey <br />by Loudermilk (pers. comm.) from Parker to Morelos dams in 1980-81, spe- <br />cifically for razorback suckers, caught none, but a small population persists <br />in Senator Wash Reservoir, California. Two small individuals (32.7 and 37.1 <br />cm TL) were caught from canals in the Blythe-Parker area in 1980 (Dona- <br />' hoo, in Anonymous, ]981), an adult was netted from Imperial Reservoir in <br />March 1973 (ASU 6283), and five young fish (ca. 15 cm TL) were caught <br />from the East Highline Canal and from commercial fish ponds filled from <br />that canal near Niland, California, in 1973 and 1974 (St. Amant et al., 1974). <br />Over the past 5 years, 1 or 2 individuals pet year have been reported by <br />fishermen from [he Imperial-Coachella Valley irrigation system. The fish <br />i remains common in Lake Mohave as large adults (Gustafson, 1975a-b), as <br />will be detailed below. <br />Young-of-the-year or juvenile razorback suckers were collected in 1950 <br />from the Colorado Rivet from pools below Laguna Dam (2 individuals, 17 <br />and 20 mm TL, UMMZ 162645), below Davis Dam (3 individuals, 80-135 <br />mm TL, UMMZ 160730; Douglas, 1952), near Cottonwood Landing (6,100 <br />specimens, 12-42 mm TL, UMMZ 162845 and ASU 3719), and in Lake <br />Havasu (Douglas, 1952). Jonez and Sumner (1954) also identified young <br />razorback suckers from below Davis Dam in 1950. One larva was caught by <br />University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UA'LV), biologists below Hoover Dam in <br />1979 (ASU 8455), larvae have been collected in Senator Wash Reservoir, and <br />from along the' shoreline o[ Lake Mohave in 1981 (Loudermilk, pers. <br />comm.), and in plankton tows in Lake Mohave in 1982 (Larry Paulson, <br />UNLV, pers. comm.). <br />Fishes oJL¢ke Mohave.-Twenty-nine species of fishes have been reliably <br />reported from Lake Mohave, of which only six are native (Table 1). Four o[ <br />the six, speckled dace, Colorado squawfish, humpback chub, and ^annel- <br />mouth sucker, have almost certainly been long extinct in the reservoir. Of <br />introduced species, the Pacific salmons, goldfish, golden shiner, and fathead <br />minnow also are rare or extirpated. Utah chub (Gila nlraria [Girard]) was <br />reported below Lake Mead and in bait shops along the lower Colorado <br />River by Jonez et al. (1951) and Miller (]952), but has yet to become esta- <br />blished and is tentatively excluded. Other introduced fishes are both up- and <br />', downstream from the reservoir and are thus to be expected. Native fishes <br />', that occurred both north and south of the area and were thus at least tran- <br />sient include roundtail chub (Gila robusta Baird and Girard) and woundfin <br />(Plagoplerus argenlissimus Cope). <br />Nel Calches.-Carp dominated catches in trammel nets in Lake Mohave <br />(Table 2). They were relatively rare only in cold water below Lake Mead. In <br />1979, carp used nets as spawning substrate, and in May were so abundant <br />that sampling was curtailed when catches exceeded an average of 40 carp per <br />100 m= o[ netting per day. <br />Catfish and bass were relatively consistent in occurrence, but trout domi- <br />nated only in cold water below Hoover Dam. Surface temperatures of Lake <br />