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<br />Paris River Fish Monitoring Annual Report <br />Paris River. We usually used a larger bag seine when sampling the ponded mouth. This seine <br />was 10 m long x 1.8 m high with 6.4 mm mesh on the wings and 3.2 mm mesh in the 1.8 x 1.8 m <br />bag. The total surface area seined was estimated and recorded for each seine haul. Only one <br />seine haul was made at each of Sites 1- 9. In the mouth of the Paris River, three hauls were <br />made at Sites 10 - 12, ranging from the mixing zone to 200 m upstream. <br />All fish captured were identified to species, measured for total length (mm), weighed <br />(0.0 g) and released alive at the site of capture. Catch-per-unit-effort was calculated as the <br />~ number of fish captured / 100 m2 seined. <br />Results and Discussion <br />itat <br />Discharge <br />The Paris River has a base flow of approximately 4 cfs, but is prone to severe flooding to <br />over three orders of magnitude higher, particularly as a result of monsoon rain storms. Spring <br />discharge was relatively low and even, due to the prolonged, cool spring that we experienced <br />(Figure 2). However, the monsoon season brought several spates, six exceeding 300 cfs and one <br />that reached 5360 cfs. <br />Dramatic floods are probably the key to the ichthyofauna of the Paris River. Only <br />species which evolved in such a dynamic system could withstand such conditions. Speckled <br />~ dace appear to be particularly capable of withstanding these floods and/or quickly recolonizing <br />the stream after being displaced. Flannelmouth suckers only use the Paris for spawning and <br />early rearing. YOY suckers will stay in the Paris as long as possible (Thieme 1997; Brouder and <br />Hoffnagle 1997a; b), but do not quickly recolonize after being flushed out. <br />Temperature <br />Temperature varied seasonally in the Paris River from a maximum of 32.2° C in July <br />(Trip 98-2) to a minimum of 0.2° C in December (Trip 98-7) (Table 2). Temperature also varied <br />daily with cooler temperatures being recorded in the morning and rapid warming through the <br />• Hoffiagle 1999, Paris Rirsr 1998 Annual Repeat Arizona Game & Fish Department S <br />