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zl <br />Boaytail <br />4n ; a~j-i ti d Habifa D a ~ ion <br />Bonytail are medium-sized (less than 600 mm) fish in the minnow <br />family. Adult bonytail are gray or olive colored on the back with <br />silvery sides and a white belly. The adult bonytail has an elongated <br />body with a long, thin caudal peduncle. <br />Critical habitat was designated in 1994 within the bonytail's <br />historical range in the following sections of the Upper Colorado River <br />(59 F.R. 13374). The primary constituent elements are the same as <br />those described for the Colorado pikeminnow. <br />LTt ah. Grand Coln ty: and ofo ado. MPSa Co ,n ty. The Colorado River <br />from Black Rocks (river mile 137) in T. 10 S., R. 104 W., section <br />25 (6th Principal Meridian) to Fish Ford in T. 21 S., R. 24 E., <br />section 35 (Salt Lake Meridian). <br />T.ah. ,art; ld nd can T,an o,*, ;.a, The Colorado River from <br />Brown Betty Rapid in T. 30 S., R. 16 E., section 34 (Salt Lake <br />Meridian) to Imperial Canyon in T. 31 S., R. 17 E., section 28 <br />(Salt Lake Meridian). <br />S a ,s and Dis i b , inn <br />The bonytail is the rarest native fish in the Colorado River. It was <br />listed as endangered April 23, 1980. Formerly reported as widespread <br />and abundant in mainstem rivers (Jordan and Evermann 1896), its <br />populations have been greatly reduced. The fish is presently <br />represented in the wild by a low number of old adult fish in Lake <br />Mohave and perhaps other lower basin reservoirs (USFWS 1990a). The <br />last known riverine area where bonytail were common was the Green <br />River in Dinosaur National Monument, where Vanicek (1967) and Holden <br />and Stalnaker (1970) collected 91 specimens during 1962-1966. From <br />1977 to 1983, no bonytail were collected from the Colorado or Gunnison <br />Rivers in Colorado or Utah (Wick et al. 1979, 1981; Valdez et al. <br />1982b; Miller et al. 1984). However, in 1984, a single bonytail was <br />collected from Black Rocks on the Colorado River (Kaeding et al. <br />1986). Several suspected bonytail were captured in Cataract Canyon in <br />1985-1987 (Valdez 1985, 1987, 1988). <br />The existing habitat has been modified to the extent that it impairs <br />essential behavior patterns, such as breeding, feeding, and <br />sheltering. <br />The bonytail is considered a species that is adapted to mainstem <br />rivers, where it has been observed in pools and eddies (Vanicek 1967; <br />