Feeding and fate of wild larval razorback sucker

The razorback sucker (Xyrauchen texanus ) is disappearing throughout its native range in the Colorado River basin of western North America. The largest remaining wild population in Lake Mohave, Arizona-Nevada, has shown no recruitments since the 1950s. Although annual spawning is successful and larv...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental biology of fishes 1988, Vol.21 (1), p.59-67
Main Authors: MARSH, T. C, LANGHORST, D. R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agnatha. Pisces
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Catostomidae
Demecology
Freshwater
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Pisces
Vertebrata
Xyrauchen texanus
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The razorback sucker (Xyrauchen texanus ) is disappearing throughout its native range in the Colorado River basin of western North America. The largest remaining wild population in Lake Mohave, Arizona-Nevada, has shown no recruitments since the 1950s. Although annual spawning is successful and larvae are seasonally abundant, no juveniles have been collected in recent decades. To evaluate the potential role of food availability in determining fate of larvae, fish and zooplankton samples were taken in 1985 from the reservoir and an adjacent, isolated backwater in which larvae were naturally produced. Nutritional factors such as type, number, or size of available foods do not explain disappearance of larval razorback suckers from Lake Mohave, since larvae survive to far greater ages and size in the backwater. Predation by introduced fishes appears a significant cause of larval mortality.
ISSN:0378-1909
1573-5133
DOI:10.1007/BF02984443