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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Lt. Colonel Dorothy F. Klcsse <br /> <br />12 <br /> <br />numerous that it was commonly used as food by early settlers. and further. <br />that commercially marketable quantities were caught in Arizona as recently as <br />1949. In the Upper Basin. razorback suckers were reported in the Green River <br />to be very abundant near Green River. Utah. in the late 1800's (Jordan 1891). <br />An account in Osmundson and Kaeding (1989) reported that residents living <br />along the Colorado River near Clifton. Colorado. obserVed several thousand <br />razorback suckers during spring runoff in the 1930's and early 1940's. In the <br />San Juan River drainage. Platania and Young (1989) relayed historical accounts <br />of razorback suckers ascending the Animas River to Durango. Colorado. around <br />the turn of the century. Platania and Young (1989) also reported the 1976 <br />capture of two adult razorback suckers by VTN Consolidated. Inc.. from an <br />irrigation pond adjacent to the San Juan River near Bluff. Utah. <br /> <br />In August 1990. the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish (Lief Ahlm. NMGF. <br />pers. comm.) irterviewed two anglers from Aztec. New Mexico. who claimed to <br />have "commonly" caught razorback suckers in the Animas River near Cedar Hill <br />bridge in the 1930's and 1940's. When the two men were shown a battery of <br />photographs. including roundtail chub (Gila robusta). humpback chub (GiLa <br />~). bony tail (GiLa eleoans). bluehead sucker (Pantost~us discobolus). <br />flannelmouth sucker (Catostomus latioinis). razorback sucker. and Colorado <br />squawfish. they both immediately identified the razorback sucker as the fish <br />they had caught. However. prior to the 1976 capture by VTN Consolidated. <br />Inc.. there were no scientifically verified reports of razorback sucker <br />captures in the San Juan River drainage. <br /> <br />The current distribution and abundance of razorback sucker has been <br />significantly reduced throughout the Colorado River system (MeAda 1987; MeAda <br />and Wydoski 1980: Holden and Stalnaker 1975: Minckley 1983: Marsh and Minckley <br />1989: Tyus 1987). The only substantial population of razorback suckers <br />remaining. made up entirely of old adults (McCarthy and Minckley 1987). is <br />found in Lake Mohave: however. they do not appear to be successfully <br />recruiting. While limited numbers of razorback sucker persist in other <br />locations in the lower Colorado River. they are considered rare or incidental <br />and may be continuing to decline. <br /> <br />In the Upper Basin. above Glen Canyon Dam. razorback suckers are found in <br />limited numbers in both lentic and lotic environments. The largest population <br />of razorback suckers in the Upper Basin is found in the upper Green River and <br />lower Yampa River (Tyus-1987). Lanigan and Tyus (1989) estimated that from <br />758 to 1.138 razorback suckers inhabit the upper Green River. In the Colorado <br />River most razorback suckers occur in the Grand Valley area near Grand <br />Junction. Colorado; however. they are increasingly rare. Osmundson and <br /> <br />\ i\ <br />