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10 <br />substrates where they develop unguarded (Muth et al. 1999). Incubation time and <br />hatching success are temperature dependent (Marsh 1985; Bozek et al. 1990) with <br />incubation time ranging from about 6 to 23 days (Bozek et al. 1990). After emergence, <br />larval razorback sucker enter the drift and are transported downstream (Mueller 1989; <br />Paulin et al. 1989) where the availability of low velocity, warm, and food-rich backwaters <br />is likely a key determinant of recruitment success (Stanford 1994; Modde 1996; Modde <br />et al. 2001). The long lifespan of the razorback sucker and high fecundity (up to 140,000 <br />ova per fish, Minckley 1983) are presumed to be adaptations that allowed the species to <br />persist in a highly variable environment where there might be several consecutive seasons <br />without successful reproduction and recruitment (Bestgen 1990). <br />Studies reviewing collection data for razorback sucker in the middle Green River <br />during the last ten years have demonstrated the use of two spawning areas; Green River <br />kilometers (RKM) 492-501 near the town of Jensen, UT and the Yampa River near the <br />Green River confluence in Echo Park, CO (Tyus and Karp 1990; Modde et al. 1996). <br />Because of the relatively high capture rate of spawning sucker at the Jensen spawning <br />area (Tyus and Karp 1990) and the potential deleterious effects of Flaming Gorge Dam <br />operations on endangered fishes, most research has focused on the Green River spawning <br />area. During 1992-1996 Wick (1997) conducted an intensive study of physical and <br />biological processes at the Green River spawning area and found that sediment was <br />deposited on the area used by razorback sucker during the spawning season beginning at <br />flows of about 325 m3/s which corresponds to the post-dam effective discharge estimated <br />by Andrews (1986). The cause of sediment deposition was described as a backwater <br />effect from a downstream constriction that reduced water surface slope in the spawning