7406

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7406
• Author: Bestgen, K. R.
• Title: Status Review of the Razorback Sucker,
• USFW Year: 1990.
• Copyright Material: NO

Razorback suckers have been collected from the puchesne River
(Tyus 1987) and but are uncommon in the White River (Sigler and
Miller 1963). The historic distribution and status of the
razorback sucker in the Yampa River is difficult to assess because
of lack of collections. The few recent captures in the Yampa
River suggest that razorback suckers occurred in the lower Yampa
River and rarely upstream to the Little Snake River, Colorado
(McAda and Wydoski 1980, Lanigan and Tyus 1989, pers. comm., E. J.
Wick, Colorado State University).
Jordan (1891) stated that large razorback suckers were very
abundant in the Green River at Blake City, Utah (Green River
Station), and were generally common in the Colorado River Basin,
but gave no specific data. Razorback suckers were apparently rare
in upstream reaches of the Green River in Wyoming, even prior to
the impoundment of Flaming Gorge Reservoir (Simon 1946, Hubbs and
Miller 1953, Smith 1959, Gaufin et al. 1960, Smith 1960, Sigler
and Miller 1963, Banks 1964, Vanicek et al. 1970, Holden and
Staknaker 1975a). Smith (1959) stated that razorback suckers were
"common in the lower part, but comparatively rare in the upper
section of the Green River." Poisoning of ,the Green River prior
to closure of Fontanelle Dam (Flaming Gorge Reservoir), provided
subsequent observations of fishes in the Green River downstream of
there. Banks (1964) collected ten razorback suckers during
studies of the effects of fish poisoning in the Green River in
Dinosaur National Park. Accounts of larger numbers of specimens
(up to 60) were also related (in Minckley et al. in press), but
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