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replacement of warmwater habitats to cold tailwaters, and migration barriers <br />(Holden and Wick 1982; Seethaler 1978; Vanicek 1967). More insidious effects, <br />including introduction of non-native species; small, but cumulative water <br />depletions; and downstream effects of water projects have also have an effect. <br />As a result, the combined effects of habitat loss (including regulation of <br />natural flow, temperature, and sediment regimes), proliferation of introduced <br />fishes, and other man-induced disturbances (Miller 1961; Minckley 1973; USFWS <br />1987) have had profound effects on native fish habitats. <br />In the Lower Colorado River, change in natural flow regimes, stream <br />blockage, and conversion of many miles of warmwater stream habitat to <br />reservoirs and cold tailwaters have largely extirpated native fishes. They <br />have been replaced by a new fauna of about 44 forms (Minckley 1982), many of <br />which were introduced from more mesic environments. Of these, 20 species are <br />abundant either locally or regionally (Minckley 1982). ~~ M°~~~~+ Colorado <br />squawfish has been extirpated from the lower Colorado River; relict <br />populations of bonytail and razorback sucker remain in some impoundments but <br />neither species are presumed self-sustaining; and humpback chub reproduction <br />in the Grand Canyon is restricted to the Little Colorado River (Minckley 1973, <br />1983; Kaeding and Zimmerman 1983). The range of other native fishes have also <br />been reduced, including the flannelmouth sucker (C. latiuinnis). <br />Colorado River fishes .are more widespread in the upper Colorado River <br />basin, where about 2000 km of occupied habitat remains in mainstream rivers <br />(Tyus et al. 1982). The native fish fauna includes six species that are <br />endemic large river cyprinids and catostomids, and six headwater forms that <br />also occur elsewhere. Although 42 introduced fishes are presently reported, <br />less than 10 are considered abundant (Tyus et al. 1982). The native fish <br />fauna includes cyprinids (Colorado squawfish, humpback chub, bonytail chub <br />e roundtail chub G. robusta speckled dace Rhinichthys osculus, <br />and endall Warm Springs dace R. osculus thermalis), catostomids (razorback <br />sucker, flannelmouth sucker, bluehead sucker C. discobolus, mountain sucker C. <br />platvrvnchus), salmon ids (Colorado River cutthroat trout 0. clarkii <br />pleuriticus, Rocky Mountain whitefish P. wiiliamsoni) and sculpins (Cottus <br />species; Tyus et al. 1982; Behnke and Benson 1983; Woodlin~~,{g 19$5). <br />"IV~G Win.\~~ ~,~v ~~ <br />In the upper basin, Colorado squawfish persists in the Yampa River, the <br />Green River below its confluence with the Yampa River, the upper Colorado <br />River mainstream, and the lower San Juan River (Archer et al. 1985; Meyer and <br />Moretti 1988; Tyus, 1990). The humpback chub is reproducing successfully in <br />the Yampa and upper Colorado rivers (Archer et al. 1985; Karp and Tyus 1990). <br />The razorback sucker persists in the lower Yampa and Green rivers, the <br />mainstream Colorado River, and the lower San Juan River, but there is no <br />indication of recent recruitment in these remnant populations (McAda and <br />Wydoski 1980; Meyer and Moretti 1988; Lanigan and Tyus 1989). The remaining <br />endangered large river fish, the bonytail, is extremely rare in the upper <br />Colorado River basin (Valdez and Clemmer 1982; Kaeding et al. 1986). <br />To date, almost all of the interest in determining and protecting <br />Colorado River fishes has been associated with the need to protect federally- <br />listed endangered species. However, the "fundamentally insular" (Molles 1980) <br />nature of the fauna suggests that other species may also become endangered or <br />3 <br />