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Io <br />reported springtime aggregations of razorback suckers in off-channel <br />impoundments and tributaries that were believed to be associated with <br />reproductive activities. Tyus and Karp (1990) and Osmundson and Kaeding <br />(1991) reported off-channel habitats to be much warmer than the main stem <br />river and that razorback suckers presumably moved to these areas for feeding, <br />resting, sexual maturation, spawning, and other activities associated with <br />their reproductive cycle. While razorback suckers have never been directly <br />observed spawning in turbid riverine environments within the Upper Basin, <br />captures of ripe specimens, both males and females, have been recorded (Valdez <br />et al. 1982; McAda and Wydoski 1980; Tyus 1987; Osmundson and Kaeding 1989; <br />Tyus and Karp 1989; Tyus and Karp 1990; Osmundson and Kaeding 1991; Platania <br />1990) in the Yampa, Green, Colorado, and San Juan Rivers. Sexually mature <br />razorback suckers are generally collected on the ascending limb of the <br />hydrograph from mid-April through June and are associated with coarse gravel <br />substrates (depending on the specific location). <br />Outside of the spawning season, adult razorback suckers occupy a variety of <br />shoreline and main channel habitats including slow runs, shallow to deep <br />pools, backwaters, eddies, and other relatively slow velocity areas associated <br />with sand substrates (Tyus 1987; Tyus and Karp 1989; Osmundson and Kaeding <br />1989; Valdez and Masslich 1989; Osmundson and Kaeding 1991; Tyus and Karp <br />1990). <br />Habitat requirements of young and juvenile razorback suckers in the wild are <br />largely unknown, particularly in native riverine environments. Life stages, <br />other than adults, have not been collected anywhere in the Upper Basin in <br />recent times. The last confirmed documentation of a razorback sucker juvenile <br />in the Upper Basin was a capture in the Colorado River near Moab, Utah (Taba <br />et al. I965, reported in Bestgen 1990). <br />Humpback Chub <br />Humpback chub generally do not make migrational movements in the upper <br />Colorado River and tend to reside throughout the year within a limited reach <br />of river. Humpback chub are found inhabiting narrow, deep canyon areas and <br />are relatively restricted in distribution. They seldom leave their canyon <br />habitat (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1982). While humpback chub are <br />regularly found dispersed in the Green and Yampa Rivers, the only major <br />populations of humpback chub known to exist in the Upper Basin are located in <br />Black Rocks and Westwater Canyons on the Colorado River. <br />Critical Habitat <br />Critical habitat has been proposed within the humpback chub's historical range <br />in the fallowing sections of the Upper Basin (58 F.R. 6578). <br />Colorado. Moffat.County. The Yampa River from the boundary o:f Dinosaur . <br />National Monument in T. '6 N., R. 99 W:, section 27 (6th Principal <br />Meridian). to the confluence with the Green River in T. 7 N., R: 103 W., <br />section 28 (6th Principal Meridian). <br />