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<br />'" <br /> <br />known. The largest populations of humpback chub occur in the Little Colorado and Colorado <br />rivers in the Grand Canyon, and in the Black RockslWestwater Canyon area of the Colorado <br />River. Other populations have been reported in Debeque and Cataract canyons of the <br />Colorado River, Desolation and Gray canyons of the Green River, and Yampa and Whirlpool <br />canyons in Dinosaur National Monument (USFWS 1990b). <br /> <br />Populations of humpback chub are found in river canyons, where they utilize a variety of <br />habitats, including pools, riffles, and eddies. Most of the existing information on habitat <br />preferences has been obtained from adult fish in the Little Colorado River, the Grand Canyon, <br />and the Black Rocks of the Colorado River (Holden and Stalnaker 1975; Kaeding and <br />Zimmerman 1983; Kaeding et al, 1990). In these locations, the fish are found associated with <br />boulder-strewn canyons, travertine dams, pools, and eddies. Some habitat-use data are also <br />available from the Yampa River Canyon where the fish occupy similar habitats, but also use <br />rocky runs, riffles, rapids, and shoreline eddies (Karp and Tyus 1990). This diversity in <br />habitat use suggests that the adult fish is adapted to a variety of habitats, and studies of <br />tagged fish indicated that they move between habitats, presumably in response to seasonal <br />habitat changes and life history needs (Kaeding and Zimmerman 19~3; Karp and Tyus 1990). <br />Reduced spring peak flows, availability of shoreline eddy and deep canyon habitats, and <br />competition and predation by nonnative fishes were reported as potential limiting factors for <br />humpback chub in the Yampa River (Tyus and Karp 1989). The impact of hybridization with <br />other species is currently being evaluated. <br /> <br />Humpback chub in reproductive condition are usually captured in May, June, and July, <br />depending on location, Little is known about their specific spawning requirements, other than <br />the fish spawn soon after the highest spring flows when water temperatures approach 680F <br />(Karp and Tyus 1990; USFWS 1990b). The importance of spring flows and proper <br />temperatures for humpback chub is stressed by Kaeding and Zimmerman (1983), who <br />implicated flow reductions and low water temperatures in the Grand Canyon as factors <br />curtailing successful spawning of the fish and increasing its competition with other species. <br /> <br />Bonytail-- The bony tail is the rarest native fish in the Basin. Formerly reported as widespread <br />and abundant in mainstream rivers (Jordan and Evermann 1896), its populations have been <br />greatly reduced. The fish is presently represented in the wild by a low number of old adult <br />fish (i.e., ages of 40 years or more) in Lake Mohave and perhaps other Lower Basin <br />reservoirs (USFWS 1990a). The fish were once common in Lake Mohave vicinity where <br />Wagner (1955) observed the fish in eddy habitats. A few individuals were reported in other <br />locations, but concentrations of the fish have not been recently reported (Kaeding et al. 1986). <br /> <br />The bony tail is adapted to mainstream rivers, where it has been observed in pools and eddies <br />(Minckley 1973; Vanicek 1967). In reservoirs, the fish occupies a variety of habitat types <br />(Minckley 1973), Spawning requirements have never been documented in a river, but <br />Vanicek and Kramer (1969) reported that spawning occurred in June and July at water <br />temperatures of about 640F. Although habitats that are required for conservation of the <br /> <br />16 <br />