9313 ‎(2)‎

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 9313
• Author: Burdick, B. D., J. Flair, M. Lloyd and B. Scheer.
• Title: Native and Nonnative Fish Use of Two Gravel-Pit Ponds Connected to the Upper Colorado River at 29-5/8 Road Near Grand Junction, Colorado.
• USFW Year: 1997.
• USFW - Doc Type: Project number CAP-6-GP,
• Copyright Material: NO

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(Sigler and Miller 1963), Desolation Canyon of the Green River (Holden and
Stalnaker 1970), and the Colorado River near Moab (Sigler and Miller 1963).
Today the largest populations of this species occur in the Little Colorado
River, in the Grand Canyon, and in the Black Rocks area of the Colorado River.
Other populations have been reported in Westwater and Debeque Canyons~of the
Colorado River, Desolation and Gray Canyons of the Green River, Yampa and
Whirlpool Canyons in Dinosaur National Monument (USFWS 1990b). One individual
was recently captured in the Gunnison River (Burdick 1995).
Little is known about the specific spawning requirements of the humpback chub.
The fish is known to spawn soon after the highest spring flows when water
temperatures approach 68° F (Kaeding. et al. 1990. Karp and Tyus 1990a, USFWS
1990b). The collection of ripe and spent fish indicated that spawning
occurred in Black Rocks during June 2-15, 1980, at water temperatures of 53°
to 61° F; in 1981, spawning occurred on May 15-25 at water temperatures of 61°
to 61.7° F (Valdez et al. 1982b). Humpback chub spawned in Black Rocks on the
Colorado River in 1983 when maximum daily water temperatures were 55° to 63° F
(Archer et al. 1985).
Backwaters, eddies, and runs have been reported as common capture locations
for young-of-year ~~umpback chub (Valdez and Clemmer 1982). These data
indicate that in Black Rocks and Westwater Canyon, young utilize shallow
areas. Habitat suitability index curves developed by Valdez et al. (1990)
indicate young-of-year prefer average depths of 2.1 feet with a maximum of 5.1
feet. Average velocities were reported at 0.2 feet per second.
Valdez et al. (1982b) and Wick et al. (1979, 1981) found adult humpback chub
in Black Rocks and Westwater Canyons in water averaging 50 feet in depth with
a maximum depth of 92 feet. In these localities, humpback chub were
associated with large boulders and steep cliffs.
Generally, humpback chub show fidelity for canyon reaches and move very little
(Miller et al. 1982c, Archer et al. 1985; Burdick and Kaeding 1985,
Kaeding et al: 1990). Movements of adult humpback chub in Black Rocks on the
Colorado River were essentially restricted to a 1-mile reach. These results
were based on the recapture of Carlin-tagged fish and radiotelemetry studies
conducted from 1979 to 1981 (Valdez et al. 1982b) and 1983 to 1985 (Archer et
al. 1985; USFWS 1986; Kaeding et al. 1990).