7990

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

reservoirs, coves can provide warm, shallow shorelines suitable for nursery habitat
Minckle et al. 19 1
( y 9 ).
~, Movement and Migrations
' Historical accounts document spring spawning movements of razorback suckers in
r various locations in the basin (Jordan 1891, Hubbs and Miller 1953, Sigler and Miller
. 1963). Spawning migrations and other movements presumably evolved in the context
of flow regimes, pluvial events, and the diversity of available habitats (Smith 1981;
Tyus 1986, 1987; Tyus and Karp 1989, 1990). Similar spawning migrations have been
studied for other riverine catostomids and appear to be a major part of their
reproductive ecology (Dance 1948, Breder and Rosen 1966, Wemer 1979). The
facl;ors controlling migratory behavior in the razorback sucker have not been studied
but there is some evidence that imprinting may have an influence (Scholz et al. 1992,
Mocide et al. 1995).
Razorback suckers may travel long distances in both lacustrine and riverine
environments during the spawning season. In Lake Mohave, razorback suckers move
throughout the lake, which is about 100 km long (Marsh and Minckley 1989). Spawning
migrations of 30 to 106 km (one way) have been recorded in the Green River near
Jensen, Utah, and in the lower Yampa River in Dinosaur National Monument (Tyus
198'7, Tyus and Karp 1990).
' 19