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18 <br />fish from Sahuaro Lake, an impoundment on the Salt River, in 1949, <br />[Htbb s and NVZer, 1953]. However, no razorback suckers were found <br />when Sahauro Lake was drained in 1966 [A inckZey and Deacon, 19681. In <br />fact, the razorback sucker has disappeared from the entire Gila River <br />arm of the lower Colorado River basin [A9inckley, 19731. Lakes Mead <br />and Mojave still contain relatively large numbers of razorback suckers, <br />but only mature fish are found, indicating recruitment is being <br />curtailed or is lacking entirely in most years. Long-lived fish could <br />create the illusion of a healthy population, which may decline as the <br />adults die through natural mortality. <br />This species appears to be more widespread in the upper basin, <br />but it has never been reported to be abundant [Banks, 1964; Deacon, 1968; <br />Vanicek, Kramer, and Franklin, 1970; MiZZer, 1972; Stalnaker and Holden, <br />1973; Holden, et al., 1974; Holden and StaZnaker, 1975a and 1975b]. <br />There are few early reports about the abundance of the razorback <br />sucker in the upper basin. Jordan [1891] stated that razorback suckers <br />were abundant in the area, but no other documentation is available. <br />The inaccessibility of the canyon areas and the violent nature of the <br />river made sampling of fish difficult, and early efforts were cursory <br />at best. Vanicek, Kramer, and Franklin `[1970] documented the <br />elimination of razorback suckers from the tailwaters of Flaming <br />Gorge Reservoir, but theorized that they were not numerous before the <br />reservoir was impounded. Holden and StaZnaker [1975b] found scattered <br />individuals throughout most of the upper basin and discovered <br />concentrations (10 to 15 individuals) in the mouth of the Yampa <br />River in March and November, 1970. Razorback suckers were reported <br />recently in the lower San Juan River near Bluff, Utah [Personal