7713

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7713
• Author: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, C. R. F. R. T.
• Title: Colorado Squawfish Recovery Plan.
• USFW Year: 1991.
• USFW - Doc Type: \
• Copyright Material: NO

An indication of the prior abundance of Colorado squawfish was its use for
food and fertilizer (Miller 1961; Minckley 1973) and its widespread favorable
reputation with early settlers as a food and game fish from Colorado
downstream into Arizona (Ellis 1914; Dill 1944; Carhart 1950; Rostlund 1952;
LaRivers 1962; Sigler and Miller 1963; Minckley 1965, 1973.).
Present Distribution and Abundance
Natural populations of the Colorado squawfish are restricted to the Upper
Colorado River Basin (Upper Basin) in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico.
The species is most abundant in the Green River below the confluence with the
Yampa River; the Yampa River from near Hayden, Colorado, to the confluence of
the Green River; the White River from Taylor Draw Dam near Rangely, Colorado,
downstream to the confluence with the Green River; and mainstem Colorado River
from Palisade, Colorado, downstream to Lake Powell (Holden and Wick 1982;
Miller et al. 1982b; Tyus et al. 1982b, Tyus et al. 1987; Wick et al. 1985,
1986; Archer et al. 1985.
Catches of young, juvenile, and adult Colorado squawfish are reported to be an
order of magnitude higher in the Green River subbasin of Colorado and Utah
than elsewhere (Tyus et al. 1986; Tyus 1990). Recent investigations have
found many young, juveniles, and adults in the Green River from the mouth of
the Yampa River to its confluence with the Colorado (Holden 1973; Holden and
Stalnaker 1975a, 1975b; Tyus et al. 1982a, 1982b, 1987; Archer et al. 1985).
Adults have been captured in the lower 199 km (124 miles) of the Yampa River
and in Lodore Canyon of the Green River (Tyus et al. 1982a; Miller et al.
1982b), and larvae were identified from the lower 30 km (19 miles) of the
Yampa River in Dinosaur National Monument (Wick et al. 1981, 1985, 1986;
Haynes et al. 1984; Tyus and Haines 1991). Two adult Colorado squawfish
implanted with radio transmitters ascended the Little Snake River in 1988
(Wick and Hawkins 1989). Investigation of the Green and Little Snake Rivers
in Wyoming in 1986 failed to produce any Colorado squawfish, (Johnson and
Oberholtzer 1987); however, an adult Colorado squawfish was found in the
Little Snake River in Wyoming in 1990 (Marsh et. al. 1991).
Colorado squawfish have been found in the lower 243 km (151 miles) of the
White River in Utah and Colorado (Prewitt et al. 1978; Wick et al. 1979, 1981;
Carlson et al. 1979; Lanigan and Berry 1981; Miller et al. 1982a; Martinez
1986a). In the Duchesne River, a fisherman caught a Colorado squawfish at the
mouth of the Uinta River in 1975 (Seethaler 1978) and a specimen implanted
with a radio transmitter ascended the Duchesne River in 1980 (Tyus et al.
1982b).
Adult and young Colorado squawfish still inhabit Lake Powell (Minckley 1973;
Wick et al. 1981; Valdez et al. 1982b; Miller et al. 1984). Adult Colorado
squawfish were captured in the riverine portion of the reservoir in 1980
(Persons and Bulkley 1982). Valdez (1990) also reported both adult and
juvenile Colorado squawfish in Cataract Canyon at the inlet of Lake Powell,
indicating that the species is reproducing in or above that reach.
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