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Razorback sucker spawning also has been observed in riverine sections of the <br />Colorado River below Hoover Dam (Minckley 1983). Mueller (1989) gave the following <br />account of reproductive behavior in that riverine habitat: <br />"Spawning behavior was similar to that reported for populations in <br />reservoirs. However, spawning appeared to be less mobile in the river. The <br />majority of fish, which appeared to be "small" (approximately 40 cm total <br />length) males, maintained stationary positions on the downstream end of the <br />site. This behavior was different from the roving nature previously observed <br />and reported for reservoir-spawning groups (Minckley, 1983). Larger fish, <br />presumably females, periodically moved into the area from the adjacent <br />river, attracting some of the otherwise stationary males to form spawning <br />groups of three to eight fish. -These groups, composed of one female and <br />several males, would spawn over depressions or swim around the area <br />before dispersing. The spawning act only took a few seconds and, other <br />than orienting with the current was similar to that reported elsewhere. <br />However, on several occasions spawning groups appeared to seek shelter <br />downstream of large boulders and, while maintaining their position, would <br />roll in mass for several seconds." <br />Habitat Preferences <br />Adults. Habitat selection by adult razorback suckers changes seasonally. Tyus <br />and Karp (1990) detected movements of adult fish into flooded areas in early spring, <br />and suggested that flooding of bottomland during spring runoff was important to adults <br />for feeding and for temperature regulation. The flooding of bottomland also supplies <br />allochthonous input to the river, which may subsequently provide food for one or more <br />life stages. <br />Radiotelemetry showed that adult fish in the Green and Duchesne rivers, Utah, selected <br />deeper near-shore runs during the spring, but shifted to relatively shallow waters of <br />submerged mid-channel sandbars during the summer months. The fish occupied <br />locations with water depths ranging from 0.6 to 3.4 m (2.0 to 11.0 ft), water velocities of <br />0.3 to 0.4 m/s (1.3 to 2.0 ft/s), substrates of sand or silt (Tyus 1987). During summer, <br />the fish occupied midchannel sand bars where the water was less than 2 m deep and <br />velocity averaged 0.5 m/s (Tyus 1987). These bars consisted of small, underwater <br />dunes and depressions in which the fish may have been feeding on trapped <br />allochthonous material (Tyus 1987). In winter, radio-tagged razorback suckers used <br />slow runs, "slack waters" and eddies, in depths of 0.6 to 1.4 m (2.0 to 4.6 ft) and <br />velocities of 0.03 to 0.33 m/s (0.1 to 1.1 ft/s; Valdez and Masslich 1989). <br />In the upper Colorado River, near Grand Junction, Osmundson and Kaeding (1989) <br />reported similar habitat use: pools and slow eddies from November through April, runs <br />and pools from July through October, runs and backwaters during May, and <br />backwaters, eddies, and flooded gravel pits during June. Selection of depths changed <br />10 <br />