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chub represent the only universally recognized pure population of <br />bonytail. <br />During the duration of this study no chub thought to closely re- <br />semble bonytail were captured from the main Colorado River or its trib- <br />utaries. In the Green, the taxonomic picture was very confused with a <br />few relatively typical representatives of each species being collected <br />along with a sizeable number of atypical intergrades. There was a <br />relatively prominent concentration of Gila spp. located at the lower end <br />of Coal Creek Rapid that initially was thought to be composed of a <br />significant number of G. elegaris. Extensive examination of 19 specimens <br />collected from this population has provided only one individual fish <br />that conformed with all criteria established by Smith et al. (1979) for <br />bonytail chub. <br />Our studies did not devulge any significant numbers or populations <br />of bonytail chub in the Upper Colorado River Basin. <br />Migration and Movement <br />Very little information on any life stage of the bonytail chub is <br />available in the literature or from this study. Because of the ex- <br />tremely precarious status of the bonytail chub in the wild, this species <br />is considered to be on the edge of extinction. <br />The only bonytail chub recaptured in this study was one of two chub <br />recaptures in Gray Canyon. The recaptured fish was at the same site it <br />had been captured 45 days previously. This individual fish was sedentary <br />during this interval, but little can be said from this one observation <br />concerning migration and movement. <br />We do know that, based on captures in Lake Mohave over the past few <br />years, W.L. Minckley and others have caught adult spawning bonytail chub <br />at one fairly specific location of the reservoir (Hamman, 1981). <br />Habitat Selection <br />Collections of more specimens in the wild will be needed before <br />habitat selection can be determined for the bonytail. The few fish <br />captured during this study occurred in the deep swift canyon areas in <br />association with both humpback and roundtail chubs. Although a few <br />large adult bonytail chub still occur in Lakes Mohave and Havasu, these <br />areas are not considered typical habitat for this species. <br />Limiting Factors <br />_Temperature - The bonytail requires and prefers certain temperatures. <br />The temperature required for spawning of bonytail chub has been reported <br />to be approximatelq 18°C (Vanicek and Kramer, 1969). Ten bonytail chub <br />taken in Lake Powell in 1965 selected water temperatures that ranged <br />from 16.6°C at 70 ft to 25°C at one foot of depth. The weighted mean <br />