Razorback sucker

• One of the largest suckers in North America. It can grow to be 13lbs and 3 feet in length.
• It used to be that they lived throughout most of the Colorado River basin from Wyoming to Mexico. Now it can be found in small populations in various rivers in Colorado and a little bit below the Hoover Dam.
• In The upper CO river basin, Biologists have found that a population of Razorbacks contains 500 adults, most of which are over 25 years old. Very few of the young they produce survive to adulthood.
• They can live to 40 years or more.
• They can spawn/reproduce at 3 or 4 years old, when they are 14 inches in length.
  
• They migrate long distances to spawn, much like salmon. They usually spawn between april and june, though they can spawn as early as November depending on the water temperture.
• Listed endangered under federal law since 1991
• Endangered under CO law since 1979
• Protected under Utah law since 1973
• Recovery stratiges: Very few live in the wild. Biologists raise the fish in hatcheries in Utah and Colorado. These Hatcheries are sticking the razorbacks in Colorado, Gunnison, Green, and San Juan rivers.
• Endangered fish grow much faster in backwaters and wetlands than in river channels. For this, The recovery Program has launched a program to acquire riverside wetlands for recovery of the razorbacks and other endangered species of fish.
• Also better management of non-native fish populations.
• Goals: To down list the Razorback from endangered to threated. When there is no immediate threat of extinction in the wild. When populations in the upper and lower river basin have been either estabished or recovered.
• These fish are endangered due to human impact with water development and introduction of non-native fish. River flows have been cut to a third by dams, diversions, and other barriers.
• More than 40 species of non-native fish have been introduced in the upper river basin.
• Diets consist of vegtable matter and material from river bottom ooze.
• Many dams and reservoirs and dams block the fishes migration routes and are unable to spawn and very few spawns survive.
• The Recovery Program agreement, signed in January 1988, includes 5 basic steps to aid in the recovery of the fish: Provision of instream flows, Habitat development and maintenance, native fish stocking, Management of non-native fish/sport fishing, and research, monitering, and data management.
• The goal of the program is to maintain and protect self-sustaining populations and sufficient natural habitats.
• Habitat: found in water 4-10 ft deep, adults are found in areas of strong current and backwaters.
• Less than 70 specimens have been collected in the state since 1979.
• Lake Mojave is where the most sustainable popualtion is with 25,000. But even here not too many young fish reach adulthood due to predatory, non-native fish.
• Information is extremely important to resourse managers about the Razorbacks such as: population size, numbers of females in population, age strucure in population, seasonal habitat use, location of spawning sites and success of spawning. Withou this data there would be no ground to base desions on.