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<br />riverine habitat. Twelve razorback sucker, however, were collected in _ <br />the San Juan Arm of Lake Powell by BOR during netting operations, -- <br />March 18 - April 12, 1987. All of these fish were caught at RMI 0.0, <br />on the south shore of the lake very near where the concrete boat ramp ~ <br />at Piute Farms Marina now exists. Well over half (eight) of the <br />razorback sucker collected were in a sexually ripe condition (Appendix <br />A). The eight fish were male, and milt was easily extracted when the <br />fish were stroked by hand. During this spring sampling period, six of <br />the razorback sucker were subsequently recaptured at the origina l <br />site, even after some of them were released up to one mile away from ~ <br />the capture site. The apparent concentration of these fish in one <br />area would indicate that they were either attempting to spawn in the <br />lake, or were staging prior to migration to a spawning site. <br />Fish collections from the San Juan River, Utah within the last <br />several decades indicate limited size and distribution of rare fish '~ <br />populations. Sigler and Miller (1963) collected three Colorado squaw- <br />fish in 1960 at Mexican Hat, Utah. During 1976 razorback sucker were <br />found in an irrigation pond near Bluff, Utah (BLM 1981). Sublette <br />{1977) reported no endangered species from his sampling efforts, which <br />were primarily made with seines. In 1978 VTN (1978) captured one <br />Colorado squawfish while electrofishing near Aneth, Utah. The U.S. ~ <br />Bureau of Land Management (BLM 1981) also captured a single Colorado <br />squawfish in 1978 near Mexican Hat, Utah. Results of sampling the San - <br />Juan River, Utah in 1987 have continued to indicate limited size and <br />distribution of rare fish populations. <br />The scarcity of records of razorback sucker in the San Juan River ~ <br />may be an indication of their limited abundance and localized distri- <br />bution. The razorback sucker was not collected during this study or <br />by Sublette (1977). Sublette commented that there were "no definitive <br />records....from the San Juan Basin;" hearsay records at Durango, <br />Colorado were cited from Jordan (1890). Records of the BLM show, <br /> <br />however, razorback sucker were seined from an irrigation pond near . <br />Bluff, Utah in 1976 (BLM 1981). Razorbacks were also seined from <br />backwaters of the San Juan River downstream of the irrigation pond <br />(Mr. Neil Armantrout, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Eugene, Oregon, <br />pers. comm.). <br />Historical information on the occurrence and distribution of Gila ~ <br />spp, in the San Juan River Basin is relatively scarce. VTN's (1978 <br />literature review revealed no verified specimens of humpback or bony- <br />tail chub exist from the San Juan River. Additionally, VTN inter- <br />viewed Dr. R. R. Miller (Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, <br />Ann Arbor, Michigan), whose review of the Gila complex indicated that . <br />bonytail chub never occurred in the San Juan River. Sublette (1977) <br />collected four roundtail chub specimens from the Los Pinos River above _ <br />Navajo Dam; he found it widespread, but rare throughout the basin <br />above Navajo Dam. It seems likely, therefore, that the Gila sp. <br />collected in this study were roundtail chub and may have drifted - <br />downstream from New Mexico. ~ <br />- 12 - , <br />