7990

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7990
• Author: Tyus, H. M.
• Title: Razorback Sucker ‎(
• USFW Year: 1997.
• Copyright Material: NO

1
In the upper Colorado River basin, razorback suckers occurred in the Colorado, Green,
and San Juan river basins. Razorback suckers occurred in the Colorado River from
Lee's Ferry, Arizona to Rifle, Colorado, and in the Gunnison River to Delta, Colorado
(Hubbs and Miller 1953, Wiltzius 1978, Minckley 1983). Razorback suckers once
occurred in the Green River from its confluence with the Colorado River upstream to '
Green River, Wyoming (Jordan 1891, Evermann and Rutter 1895, Simon 1946, Sigler ,
and Miller 1963, Baxter and Simon 1970, Vanicek et al. 1970). Razorback suckers also
have been captured in the lower few miles of the Duchesn
e River (Tyus 1987) and in
the lower White River near Ouray, Utah (Sigler and Miller 1963). Razorback suckers ,
occurred in the lower Yampa and Little Snake rivers of Colorado (McAda and Wydoski
1980, Lanigan and Tyus 1989, John Hawkins, Colorado State University, pen;. comm.,
1995). Historic status of the razorback sucker in the San Juan drainage is not well
documented (Bestgen 1990), but there is some evidence that razorback suckers "ran"
up the Animas River in spring (Jordan 1891); presumably these were spawning runs.
Koster (1960) reported anecdotal evidence of razorback suckers captured by anglers in ,
the Animas River, and in 1992, anglers identified razorback sucker pictures as the fish
they had captured in the Animas River during the 1940s. The first verified record of
razorback suckers from the San Juan River consisted of two adults collected from n
a
irrigation pond near Bluff, Utah, in 1976, and one individual captured from the
mainstem San Juan River near Bluff in 1988 (Platania et al. 1990).

a ~