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<br />FACT SHEET <br />Bony tall chub (Gila elegans) <br /> <br />Status: <br /> <br />Given full protection under the Endangered Species Act in 1980. <br />Endangered under Colorado law since 1976. <br />Listed as "protected" in Utah law since 1974. <br /> <br />Description: <br /> <br />Bonytai1 chub have large fms and a streamlined body that becomes thin in front of the tail. lbis minnow has a gray <br />or olive-colored back, silver sides and a white belly. Bonytai1 can grow to 24 inches or more and have been knoWn <br />to live nearly 50 years. Bonytail chub are thought to have evolved about 10,000 years ago. The bonytail is the rarest <br />of the endangered fish in the upper Colorado River Basin and is nearly extinct in the wild. <br /> <br />Distribution: <br /> <br />Once reported to be abundant in parts of the upper and lower Colorado River Basin, the bonytai1 chub is extremely <br />rare is close to extinction in the wild. Only a handful have been captured in the last decade. <br /> <br />Most recently, bonytail chub have been found on the Yampa River in Dinosaur National Monument, on the Green at <br />Desolation and Gray canyons, on the Colorado River at the Colorado/Utah border, and at the confluence of the <br />Green and Colorado rivers upstream of Lake Powell. In the lower Basin, bonytail have been found in Lake Mohave <br />and Lake Havasu. <br /> <br />. Spawning: <br /> <br />Bonytai1 chub are thought to spawn during late June and early July. In captivity, they become sexually mature as <br />early as I to. 2 years of age; minimum size at spawning is about 6 inches. No reproducing populations are known in <br />the wild. <br />