Razorback Sucker
Photo Courtesy of Utah Division of Wildlife Resources
Xyrauchen texanus
NatureServe conservation status
Global (G-rank): G1
State (S-rank): S2
Utah Wildlife Action Plan status
- SGCN
External links
Species range
In Utah, the Razorback Sucker is primarily restricted to the Green River and its tributaries in the Upper Colorado River Basin, though they can also be found in the Colorado River and in Lake Powell
Migration
The Razorback Sucker is a migratory species that utilizes multiple parts of their large river system to complete their lifecycle. Adults will migrate to specific gravel bars during high flows in the spring where they spawn. Once larval fish have hatched they drift downstream where they are deposited into slower moving water in wetlands along the mainstem of the river. Juveniles will spend multiple years utilizing the warm shallow waters of the adjacent wetlands growing to adults. One they reach adulthood they will return to the main stem of the river when spring floods reconnect the wetlands to the river.
Habitat
Adult Razorback sucker utilize the mainstem portions of large river systems like the Green, San Juan, and Colorado rivers. They require access to warmer, shallow backwater areas or wetlands for larval survival.
Food habits
In the Green and Colorado rivers, adults feed on benthic invertebrates, algae, and detritus (decomposing organic matter). In lake settings such as Lake Powell their diet is composed of mostly zooplankton.
Reproductive characteristics
Adults spawn on gravel bars in the main stem of large rivers. Once larval fish hatch from their eggs they drift downstream until they settle out into warm shallow waters of wetlands that have connected to the river during high waters. They will spend time growing in the wetlands before returning to the main stem of the river.
Threats or limiting factors
The main threats to the razorback sucker in Utah are habitat degradation and fragmentation due to dams, which disrupt natural river flows and temperatures, and predation and competition from nonnative fish species like smallmouth bass and carp that prey on young suckers and compete for food resources. Other threats include barriers to fish movement, and climate change leading to altered flow conditions.