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Biologists have found evidence of the endangered razorback sucker spawning in eastern Utah's White River, likely as a result of stocking downstream on the Green River, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Scientists with the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program found razorback sucker larvae in a backwater about five miles upstream from the confluence with the Green.
They put traps in several areas after seeing adult suckers apparently in spawning shape swimming the river, biologist Aaron Webber said in a statement. The traps caught larvae, and a laboratory at Colorado State University confirmed they were razorback sucker larvae.
The fish grow to 3 feet in length and live up to 40 years, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. The species is threatened by non-native fishes, inadequate river flows and habitat destruction. The recovery program hatches suckers at its Ouray hatchery near Vernal.
Brandon Loomis