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21 <br />to be mobile and more tolerant of lotic conditions away from the sheltered <br />backwater environment. <br />Larval Colorado squawfish have been collected in the Gunnison River upstream <br />and downstream of tl~e Redlands Diversion Dam. Burdick (1997) reports that the <br />capture of larval Colorado squawfish in 1995 and .1996 upstream of the~Redlands <br />Diversion Dam indicates spawning is occurring upstream of the dam. <br />Information on radio-tagged adult Colorado squawfish during fall suggests that <br />fish seek out deep water areas in the Colorado River (Miller et al. 1982), as <br />do many other riverine species. River pools, runs, and other deep water <br />areas, especially ~in upstream reaches, are important winter habitats for <br />Colorado squawfish (Valdez and Masslich 1989, Wick and Hawkins 1989). <br />Very little information is available on the influence of turbidity on the <br />endangered Colorado River fishes. It is assumed, however, that turbidity is <br />important, particularly as it affects the interaction between introduced <br />fishes and the endemic Colorado River fishes. Because these endemic fishes <br />have evolved under natural conditions of high turbidity, it is concluded that <br />the retention of these highly turbid conditions is an important factor for <br />these endangered fishes. Reduction of turbidity may enable introduced species <br />to gain a competitive edge which could further contribute to the decline of <br />the endangered Colorado River fishes. <br />The razorback sucker is a Colorado River Basin endemic species and was <br />historically abundant and widely distributed within warm water reaches <br />throughout the Basin. Historically, razorback suckers were found in the <br />mainstem Colorado River and major tributaries in Arizona, California, <br />Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and in Mexico (Ellis 1914, <br />Minckley 1983). Bestgen (1990) reported that this species was once so <br />numerous that it was commonly used as food by early settlers and, further, <br />that commercially marketable quantities were caught in Arizona as recently as <br />1949. In the Upper Basin, razorback suckers were reported in the Green River <br />and were very abundant near Green River, Utah, in the late 1800's (Jordan <br />1891). An account in Osmundson and Kaeding (1989) reported that residents <br />living along the Colorado River near Clifton, Colorado, observed several <br />thousand razorback suckers during spring runoff in the 1930's and early <br />1940's. In the San Juan River drainage, Platania and Young (1989) relayed <br />historical accounts of razorback suckers ascending the Animas River to <br />Durango, Colorado, around the turn of the century. <br />