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1 <br />1 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />t <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />ii <br /> <br /> <br />1981-1987 (Table 5). Included in this total were I88 "ripe" adults. These <br />fish were classified "ripe" if milt or eggs could be expressed from the vent <br />with light hand pressure on the abdomen. Ripe males (N=178) were always <br />found heavily covered with breeding tubercles and bearing a bronze coloration. <br />A total of 23 additional fish were classified as suspected male because of <br />the presence of these two characteristics. Robust tuberculation in male <br />Colorado squawfish has also been noted by Hamman (1931) and Seethaler (1978). <br />Only 10 ripe or spent female Colorado squawfish were positively identified by <br />expression of eggs. However, 40 additional fish were classified as suspected <br />female because of their large size, and absence of heavy tuberculation and <br />bronze coloration. These data indicate a definite paucity of adult female <br />Colorado squawfish in the Green River system, which ma}• be due to differential <br />mortality (Tyus et al. 1987). High male:female sex ratio in Colorado <br />squawfish has also been noted by Seethaler (1978) (following a re-evaluation <br />of Vanicek's (1967) data) and for other squawfish species (Patten and Rodman <br />1969). <br />Larvae and Postlarvae: Following spring runoff, larval Colorado squawfish <br />emerge as sac-fry from cobble bars in the Yampa Canyon and-drift downstream <br />(Haynes et al. 1984, Tyus et al. 1982b) to concentrate in shallow backwater <br />habitats of the Green River in Utah (Figure IO) (Tyus et al. 1982b, 1987). <br />Young fish are able to use river transport for dispersal from upstream <br />spawning grounds to these productive downstream nursery habitats (Tyus and <br />McAda 1984, Tyus 19$6), habitats created by gradually decreasing summer flows. <br />During this period of emergence and dispersal, yolk is fully absorbed and <br />young fish reach a critical stage when feeding must begin. Postlarval (Young- <br />of-year) Colorado squawfish are rare in the Yampa River and no Age 0 fish <br />23 <br />