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578 <br />KAEDING AND ZIMMERMAN <br />icek and Kramer 1969; Vanicek et al. 1970; <br />Holden and Stalnaker 1975). The dam dis- <br />charged hypolimnetic water from the reservoir <br />and temperatures in the tailwater remained ]ow <br />throughout the year. Lower tailwater temper- <br />atures and the loss of lotic habitat in the res- <br />ervoir presumably eliminated reproduction by <br />some native fishes and led to their eventual ex- <br />tinction in that region. <br />Although comprehensive surveys of the fishes <br />of the 400-km Colorado River reach that in- <br />cludes the Grand Canyon did not begin until <br />several years after the 1963 closure of Glen <br />Canyon Dam upstream, results of these inves- <br />tigations suggested that dam operation affected <br />native fishes in much the same way as it affected <br />them below Flaming Gorge Dam. Researchers <br />in the Grand Canyon failed to collect the Col- <br />orado squawfish Ptychocheilus lucius, razorback <br />sucker Xyrauchen texanus, or bonytail Gila ele- <br />gans, although these species probably once oc- <br />curredthere. Afew humpback chubs Gila cypha <br />were found, however. They were most abun- <br />dant, and apparently reproduced, near the con- <br />fluence with the Little Colorado River, a small <br />though significant tributary (Minckley and Blinn <br />1976; Suttkus and Clemmer 1979; Minckley et <br />al. 1980). In the present report, we describe the <br />life history and ecology of the humpback chub <br />near the confluence of the Little Colorado and <br />Colorado rivers in the Grand Canyon. <br />Methods <br />Study Area and Sampling Scheme <br />The study area included 32 km of the Colo- <br />rado River, and 20 km of the Little Colorado <br />River to Blue Spring, the farthest upstream <br />source of perennial water for the Little Colo- <br />rado within the Grand Canyon (Fig. 1). The <br />rivers were divided into reaches about 5 km <br />long, except the confluence (reach C 4) included <br />both rivers and totaled 3 km. Sampling at LC <br />1, the most upstream reach of the Little Colo- <br />rado, was stopped after intensive collecting ef- <br />forts in May and July 1980 yielded no hump- <br />back chubs. <br />Before each sampling trip, we randomly se- <br />lected one 0.5-1-km-long sampling site within <br />each reach, using large-scale aerial photo- <br />graphs. Seven quantitative sampling trips were <br />made along the Little Colorado, and three semi- <br />annualquantitative trips along the Colorado, in <br />2 years; however, only two Little Colorado <br /> <br />ci <br /> ENLARGED <br /> AREA <br />C 2 Arizona <br /> <br />C3 <br />>_ <br />~ LITTLE <br /> C~~ <br /> <br />C4 ~H <br />LC4 •R ~O <br /> LC 3 p <br /> <br />O 9 <br />CS LC2 <br /> <br />0 <br />U <br />r . LC 1 <br /> <br />cs <br /> Biue Spring <br /> North <br />c7 <br /> o z <br /> kilometers <br />FlcuxE 1.-Study area showing locations of sampling <br />reaches in the Colorado River (C 1-7) and Little Col- <br />orado River (LC 1-4). Arrows along the rivers denote <br />directions of flow. <br />reaches were sampled during some trips. Aerial <br />photographs were used on the ground to ac- <br />curately identify the locations of individual col- <br />lection areas. Sampling was stratified by three <br />diel periods: morning, afternoon, and night <br />(darkness). Sampling at each site usually contin- <br />ued for 2 days. <br />Physicochemical and Biological Measurements <br />River cross sections were measured manually <br />in the Little Colorado and electronically in the <br />Colorado. Chemical analyses of the water were <br />performed in the field between 1000 and 1400 <br />hours. Continuously recording thermometers <br />were placed in the Little Colorado at two lo- <br />cations, 5 and 13 km above the confluence of <br />the rivers, and in the Colorado at the United <br />States Geological Survey gauge 23 km below <br />the study area. Temperatures at the gauge were <br />representative of those in the study area; Cole <br />and Kubly (1976) showed that water tempera- <br />ture in the Colorado increases no more than <br />A <br />v <br />