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DISCUSSION <br />Razorback suckers <br />We were unable to locate a concentration of adult razorback suckers in the lower Green River as <br />result of this study. One adult was collected in related efforts 43 miles below the mouth of the <br />San Rafael River on May 16, 1995. Prior to the subject study and in recent efforts since, <br />incidental collections of razorback sucker have been reported from the area (Table 2). Most <br />notably were the two collections of adult razorback in the mouth of the San Rafael; one on May <br />14, 1996 collected during ISMP monitoring and the other on May 7, 1997 collected in a fyke net <br />while light trapping in the area. A razorback sucker population or contingent of a larger <br />population persists in the lower Green River as evidenced by the sporadic collection of adults and <br />the collection of larvae. The size of the larvae and the timing of their occurrence in the lower 1~~~ <br />r ~Q <br />Green indicates spawning occurs somewhere in the lower portion of the river (Mutht is our <br />feeling that continued spring sampling with fyke nets in the mouth of the San Rafael will reveal <br />more adult razorbac~C suckers. And it is likely that the fish are either spawning in the Green River <br />in the imme$iate vicinity of the San Rafael or in the San Rafael itself. The current Basinwide <br />Monitoring program is designed to narrow down the distribution of larval razorback suckers and <br />when they occur. _. <br />Water temperatures typically warm in the lower Green River prior to those in the middle and <br />upper sections. During 1994, the river temperature at Green River, UT warmed to a consistent <br />14 C on April 12, while it took another month (May 14) for this to happen near Jensen, UT. In <br />the fall, the water temperatures at both Jensen and Green River, UT. dropped below 14 C the first <br />week of October. The water temperature in the San Rafael River warms quicker than the <br />^ ,~,! mainstem Green River, usually in early April. Thermal data for the San Rafael River is limited <br />therefore specific dates could not be determined. <br />®~` <br />. ?~' In 1995 winter storms continued until late May for most of the state of Utah. While the <br />'~~" temperatures at Jensen reflect this weather pattern, the river temperatures at Green River did not. <br />~~~ ~ The 14 C threshold was reached on Apri123 at Green River, Ut, while similar warming did not <br />~` occur till June 26 at Jensen, Ut (refer to Figure 2). San Rafael warming was also delayed; water <br />temperatures did not reach and maintain 14 C until sometime in late April or the first half of May. <br />DRAFT 15 <br />