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~ i <br />The other recaptured fish had been initially tagged in LJalker <br />Wildlife Area. It had moved out into the Colorado River and traveled <br />sixteen miles upstream before moving into another backwater area <br />connected to the river. It was captured along with forty other hump- <br />back suckers in a night gill net set by George Kidd; a biologist for <br />the Colorado Division of Wildlife (Kidd, personal-communication). In <br />order to enter this backwater area the fish had to locate and enter <br />a drainage pipe 1 1/2 feet in diameter. <br />9 <br />The third fish was sighted while electrofishing a gravel area just <br />. above the Wildlife Area in the Colorado River. <br />Reproduction <br />One of the objectives of-this study is to establish some of the <br />spawning requirements of the humpback sucker. At this point, it <br />appears that humpback suckers exhibit spawning behavior similar to that <br />of other suckers (Carlander 1969). There appears to be a r~~igration <br />involved although the extent and timing~of the migration will require <br />much further study. However, we believe that spawning is carried out <br />in the lover Yampa by fish that have moved out of the Green. <br />Three areas were located in May where spawning is believed to have <br />occurred, two on the Yampa and one on the Colorado. One area was more <br />heavily used than the others during the sampling period. Only one <br />humpback was located at each of the other two locations. Fourteen <br />humpback suckers (approximately three males for eves°y female) :were <br />captured at the primary site.l All females captured on the .spawning <br />area were loose and ready to spawn. Females netted nearby were not yet <br />lone quarter mile-upstream from the mouth of the Yampa. <br />