Lake Sturgeon
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The lake sturgeon (''Acipenser fulvescens''), also known as the rock sturgeon, is a
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
n temperate
freshwater fish Freshwater fish are those that spend some or all of their lives in fresh water, such as rivers and lakes, with a salinity of less than 1.05%. These environments differ from marine conditions in many ways, especially the difference in levels of ...
, one of about 25 species of sturgeon. Like other sturgeons, this species is a bottom feeder with evolutionarily basal traits among fish, reflecting its early divergence from the
shark Sharks are a group of elasmobranch fish characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton, five to seven gill slits on the sides of the head, and pectoral fins that are not fused to the head. Modern sharks are classified within the clade Selachimo ...
lineage. These traits include a partly
cartilaginous Cartilage is a resilient and smooth type of connective tissue. In tetrapods, it covers and protects the ends of long bones at the joints as articular cartilage, and is a structural component of many body parts including the rib cage, the neck a ...
skeleton, an overall streamlined shape, and skin bearing rows of bony plates on the sides and back. The lake sturgeon uses its elongated, spade-like snout to stir up the substrate and sediments on the beds of rivers and lakes to feed. Four sensory organs (
barbels In fish anatomy and turtle anatomy, a barbel is a slender, whiskerlike sensory organ near the mouth. Fish that have barbels include the catfish, the carp, the goatfish, the hagfish, the sturgeon, the zebrafish, the black dragonfish and some s ...
) hang near its mouth to help the sturgeon locate bottom-dwelling prey. Lake sturgeons can grow to a large size for freshwater fish, topping 7.25 ft (2.2 m) long and 240 lb (108 kg).


Description

The lake sturgeon has
taste buds Taste buds contain the taste receptor cells, which are also known as gustatory cells. The taste receptors are located around the small structures known as papillae found on the upper surface of the tongue, soft palate, upper esophagus, the che ...
on and around its barbels near its rubbery,
prehensile Prehensility is the quality of an appendage or organ that has adapted for grasping or holding. The word is derived from the Latin term ''prehendere'', meaning "to grasp". The ability to grasp is likely derived from a number of different orig ...
lip The lips are the visible body part at the mouth of many animals, including humans. Lips are soft, movable, and serve as the opening for food intake and in the articulation of sound and speech. Human lips are a tactile sensory organ, and can be ...
s. It extends its lips to vacuum up soft live food, which it swallows whole due to its lack of teeth. Its diet consists of insect larvae, worms (including leeches), and other small organisms (primarily
metazoa Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and go through an ontogenetic stage in ...
n) it finds in the mud. Some populations consume fish as a significant component of their diet, particularly since the introduction in the early 1990s of the invasive
round goby The round goby (''Neogobius melanostomus'') is a fish. Defined as a euryhaline bottom-dwelling goby of the family Gobiidae, it is native to Central Eurasia, including the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. Round gobies have established large non-na ...
. Given that it is a large species surviving by feeding on very small species, its feeding ecology has been compared to that of large marine animals, like some whales, which survive by filter-feeding.


Distribution and habitat

This species occurs in the
Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...
drainage basin south to Alabama and Mississippi. It occurs in the
Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lak ...
and the
Detroit River The Detroit River flows west and south for from Lake St. Clair to Lake Erie as a strait in the Great Lakes system. The river divides the metropolitan areas of Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario—an area collectively referred to as Detro ...
, east down the
St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...
to the limits of fresh water. In the west, it reaches
Lake Winnipeg Lake Winnipeg (french: Lac Winnipeg, oj, ᐑᓂᐸᑲᒥᐠᓴᑯ˙ᑯᐣ, italics=no, Weenipagamiksaguygun) is a very large, relatively shallow lake in North America, in the province of Manitoba, Canada. Its southern end is about north of t ...
and the
North Saskatchewan The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with the South Saskatchewan River to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows eventua ...
and
South Saskatchewan The South Saskatchewan River is a major river in Canada that flows through the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. For the first half of the 20th century, the South Saskatchewan would completely freeze over during winter, creating spectacular ...
Rivers. In the north, it is found in the
Hudson Bay Lowland The Hudson Bay Lowlands is a vast wetland located between the Canadian Shield and southern shores of Hudson Bay and James Bay. Most of the area lies within the province of Ontario, with smaller portions reaching into Manitoba and Quebec. Many wide ...
. In the east, the species lives in
Lake Champlain Lake Champlain ( ; french: Lac Champlain) is a natural freshwater lake in North America. It mostly lies between the US states of New York and Vermont, but also extends north into the Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. The New York portion of t ...
and in some Vermont rivers, including the Winooski, Lamoille and Missisquoi rivers, and Otter Creek. This distribution makes sense in that all these areas were linked by the large lakes that formed as the glaciers retreated from North America at the end of the last ice age (e.g.,
Lake Agassiz Lake Agassiz was a large glacial lake in central North America. Fed by glacial meltwater at the end of the last glacial period, its area was larger than all of the modern Great Lakes combined. First postulated in 1823 by William H. Keating, i ...
,
Lake Iroquois Lake Iroquois can refer to: *Lake Iroquois (South Dakota) * Lake Iroquois (Vermont) in Vermont in the United States * Lake Iroquois, Illinois in Iroquois County in Illinois in the United States *Glacial Lake Iroquois Glacial Lake Iroquois was a p ...
). These sturgeon often migrate in search of food or suitable spawning locations, or in response to seasonal environmental conditions. Juveniles typically inhabit pools greater than about 6 feet in depth, and adults typically live deep in large lakes. They are not often far from suitable spawning locations. The abundance of prey also plays a large factor in finding a suitable habitat.


Life cycle

Lake sturgeon have a very long lifespan. Males typically live for 55 years and females can live for 80 to 150 years. They grow quickly during a lengthy juvenile stage.


Early life

Lake sturgeon eggs begin yellowed and are attached to a fatty ovarian mass. When the eggs are mature, they become olive green, grey or black. The eggs typically hatch after 8 to 14 days. Observations suggest lake sturgeon and other fish and invertebrates likely consume some fertilized eggs while on the spawning grounds. At hatching, the larvae are barely discernible and are about 10 mm long. The larvae soon become
pelagic The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean, and can be further divided into regions by depth (as illustrated on the right). The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or w ...
, remaining far from the surface and bed, and negatively phototactic, or attracted to darkness, while searching for rocky places to hide. About two weeks after hatching, they disperse downstream with the current for several miles until settling back down upon the river bottom. As juveniles, all definitive adult structures, except for gonads, form. They are thought to feed on benthic invertebrates like adults. It is thought that during late summer, yearlings gather in large schools in shallow river mouths and bays. The juveniles can be found in the same habitats as adults after a year.


Reproduction

Male lake sturgeon typically reach sexual maturity at 8 to 12 years, but may take up to 22 years. Females reach sexual maturity at 14 to 33 years, most often from 24 to 26 years of age. These sturgeon spawn on clean, gravel shoals and stream rapids, usually from April to June. They prefer to spawn in temperatures between 55 and 64 degrees Fahrenheit. Lake sturgeon reproduce by swimming around each other in circles and shaking violently; the male stops circling when he has released his fertilizer and the female then lays her eggs. Males spawn every 2 to 7 years while females spawn every 4 to 9 years. Only 10 to 20 percent of adult lake sturgeon are sexually active during a season Lake sturgeon are polygamous, maximizing genetic diversity.


Conservation

These fish were once killed as a nuisance by catch because they damaged fishing gear. When their meat and eggs became prized, commercial fishermen targeted them. Between 1879 and 1900, the Great Lakes commercial sturgeon fishery brought in an average of 4 million pounds (1800 metric tons) per year. Such unsustainable catch rates were coupled with environmental challenges such as pollution and the construction of dams and other flood control measures. Sturgeon, which return each spring to spawn in the streams and rivers in which they were born, found tributaries blocked and spawning shoals destroyed by silt from agriculture and lumbering. In the 20th century, drastic drops in sturgeon catches, increased regulations, and the closure of viable fisheries occurred. Currently, 19 of the 20 states within the fish's original U.S. range list it as either threatened or endangered. It is considered "Vulnerable" by
NatureServe NatureServe, Inc. is a non-profit organization based in Arlington County, Virginia, US, that provides proprietary wildlife conservation-related data, tools, and services to private and government clients, partner organizations, and the public. Nat ...
. This sturgeon is a valuable gourmet food fish, as well as a source of specialty products including
caviar Caviar (also known as caviare; from fa, خاویار, khâvyâr, egg-bearing) is a food consisting of salt-cured roe of the family Acipenseridae. Caviar is considered a delicacy and is eaten as a garnish or a spread. Traditionally, the te ...
and
isinglass Isinglass () is a substance obtained from the dried swim bladders of fish. It is a form of collagen used mainly for the clarification or fining of some beer and wine. It can also be cooked into a paste for specialised gluing purposes. The ...
. "In 1860, this species, taken on incidental catches of other fishes, was killed and dumped back in the lake, piled up on shore to dry and be burned, fed to pigs, or dug into the earth as fertilizer."Scott, W.B. and E.J. Crossman. 1972. Freshwater Fisheries of Canada. Fisheries Research Board of Canada, Department of the Environment, Ottawa. p. 88. It was even stacked like cordwood and used to fuel steamboats. Once its value was realized, "They were taken by every available means from spearing and jigging to set lines of baited or unbaited hooks laid on the bottom to trap nets, pound nets and gillnets." Over 5 million lb were taken from Lake Erie in a single year. The fishery collapsed, largely by 1900. It has never recovered. Like most sturgeons, the lake sturgeon is rare now and is protected in many areas. In addition to overharvesting, it has also been negatively affected by pollution and loss of migratory waterways. It is vulnerable to population declines through overfishing due to its extremely slow reproductive cycle; most individuals caught before 20 years of age have never bred and females spawn only once every four or five years. The specific harvesting of breeding females for their
roe Roe ( ) or hard roe is the fully ripe internal egg masses in the ovaries, or the released external egg masses, of fish and certain marine animals such as shrimp, scallop, sea urchins and squid. As a seafood, roe is used both as a cooked in ...
is also damaging to population size. Few individuals ever reach the extreme old age or large size that those of previous generations often did.WILL HAENNI (2 May 2021) Monster fish caught in Detroit River is one of the largest ever recorded by biologists
240 lb., 6'10".


Restoration

In 2001, transmitters placed into ten sturgeon and egg mats placed in the Detroit River documented spawning of sturgeon for the first time in many decades. This discovery followed the 2001 discovery of spawning runs under the
Blue Water Bridge The Blue Water Bridge is a twin-span international bridge across the St. Clair River that links Port Huron, Michigan, United States, and Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. The Blue Water Bridge connects Highway 402 in Ontario with both Interstate 69 ...
in the
St. Clair River The St. Clair River (french: Rivière Sainte-Claire) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed November 7, 2011 river in central North America which flows from Lake Huron int ...
. The
Little River Band of Ottawa Indians Little River Band of Ottawa Indians ( oj, Gaaching-Ziibi Daawaa Anishinaabe) is a federally recognized Native American tribe of the Odawa people in the United States. It is based in Manistee and Mason counties in northwest Michigan. It was recog ...
(Manistee, MI) Sturgeon Program began in 2001. In 2002 they successfully documented natural reproduction of lake sturgeon by capturing larvae (newly hatched fish) from the
Big Manistee River The Manistee River ( '), seldom referred to as the Big Manistee River, runs U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed November 21, 2011 through the northwestern Lower Peninsula o ...
. The Streamside Rearing Facility for lake sturgeon on the Big Manistee River became operational in the spring of 2004 and marked the first time this technique had ever been used for this species. Since that time there have been five SRFs operated within the Lake Michigan Basin built on the same LRBOI design. Many agencies now collaborate on this effort including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, States of Michigan and Wisconsin, and many other partners. The LRBOI Nmé Stewardship Plan, created by biologists and Tribal members, was published in 2005 as a guiding document for the LRBOI sturgeon program and sturgeon restoration. New York State has also had a successful recovery program, using eggs and sperm collected from a spawning area on the
St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...
. In early June 2017, aquatic biologists conducted the annual assisted propagation effort, through which 130,000 fertilized eggs were sent to hatcheries. Several populations of lake sturgeon have begun to be restored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in cooperation with locally managed fisheries from North Carolina to the Great Lakes. To better understand their life cycle, USFWS tags individual sturgeon and records abundance, distribution, age, growth and health of the population. While strict regulations have been put in place to monitor harvests, hatcheries are a key component of restoration efforts. Wolf Lake State Fish Hatchery in Kalamazoo, MI, raises and releases lake sturgeon. The lake sturgeon are produced mainly for inland waters, although a few are stocked in Great Lakes waters. There is also a streamside rearing facility near
Onaway, Michigan Onaway () is a city in Presque Isle County, just east of the Cheboygan–Presque Isle county line in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 880 at the 2010 census. Onaway is the Sturgeon Capital of Michigan, and there is a lake sturgeon ...
on the Black River, a tributary of the
Cheboygan River The Cheboygan River ( ) is a short but significant river in the Lake Huron drainage basin of the U.S. state of Michigan. in length,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed Novemb ...
, then Lake Huron. The facility is run and managed by the
Michigan Department of Natural Resources The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is the agency of the state of Michigan charged with maintaining natural resources such as state parks, state forests, and recreation areas. It is governed by a director appointed by the Governor a ...
, Michigan State University, and Tower Kliber. Each year hundreds to thousands of sturgeon are raised and released into Black Lake, and other surrounding areas. Adult sturgeon are caught in the river, their eggs and sperm are extracted and then taken back to the hatchery for fertilization, and left to incubate. Hatched larvae are also caught in the river with drift nets. The hatchery is open to the public, and people can also watch the hatchery workers catch the fish.


Recreational fishing

Today, limited sturgeon fishing seasons are permitted in only a few areas, including some locations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Fishing for sturgeon is allowed on Black Lake in Michigan, for example, but the fishery is limited to five total fish taken each year, each over and taken through the ice with spears. Anglers in Minnesota have the opportunity to harvest one lake sturgeon per calendar year between 45 and 50 in on the Rainy River, and Lake of the Woods on the Canada–US border. The early season runs from April 24 to May 7 each year with the late season running from July 1 to September 30. Anglers must have a valid Minnesota fishing license and purchase a sturgeon tag to harvest a lake sturgeon. An annual sturgeon spearing season is open on
Lake Winnebago Lake Winnebago ( mez, Wenepekōw Nepēhsæh, oj, Wiinibiigoo-zaaga'igan, one, kanyataláheleˀ) is a shallow freshwater lake in the north central United States, located in east central Wisconsin. At 137,700 acres it is the largest lake entir ...
in Wisconsin. It has changed from a 16-day season in the past to a season with a marked quota, but the season can still run for the full 16 days. If 90–99% of the quota is reached on any day, the season is over at 1:00 pm the following day. If 100% (or more) of the quota is reached, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources can enable an emergency stoppage rule. In 2012, the largest sturgeon ever caught on Lake Winnebago (a female) was 125 years old, weighed 240 lb., and measured 87.5 in. in length. It was tagged and released by scientists from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. The sturgeon is also present in Quebec in the St. Lawrence River, where it is targeted by commercial fisheries. It is also a game fish with a harvest limit of one per day.


Cultural significance


Native Americans

The sturgeon was and is a major figure in
Menominee The Menominee (; mez, omǣqnomenēwak meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recog ...
culture. For example, one of their clans is the Sturgeon Clan. There was also special celebration, the Sturgeon Festival, in which the spiritual and economic aspects of the fish were celebrated. Among the spiritual aspects are the sturgeon's role as protector of
wild rice Wild rice, also called manoomin, Canada rice, Indian rice, or water oats, is any of four species of grasses that form the genus ''Zizania'', and the grain that can be harvested from them. The grain was historically gathered and eaten in both ...
. Sturgeon were taken not just for their meat but also for the eggs (caviar) and other parts, especially the
isinglass Isinglass () is a substance obtained from the dried swim bladders of fish. It is a form of collagen used mainly for the clarification or fining of some beer and wine. It can also be cooked into a paste for specialised gluing purposes. The ...
, which was traditionally used as a paint adhesive and later as a trade item with Europeans.

The fish was also a key economic factor among the
Anishinaabe The Anishinaabeg (adjectival: Anishinaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree), Odawa, Potawat ...
. In fact, members of this tribe living in the sturgeon-rich
Winnipeg River The Winnipeg River is a Canadian river that flows roughly northwest from Lake of the Woods in the province of Ontario to Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba. This river is long from the Norman Dam in Kenora to its mouth at Lake Winnipeg. Its watershed is ...
watershed were known as "Sturgeon Indians" during the fur trade era. Devices used in fishing sturgeon included spear,
weir A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...
, net, and less commonly hook and line.Holzkamm, Tim, and Leo Waisberg (2004) “Native American Utilization of Sturgeon,” pp. 22-39 in Sturgeons and Paddlefish of North America. Edited by G.T.O LeBreton, F. William H. Beamish, and Scott R. McKinley. Kluwer Academic Publishers.


Gallery

File:Lake sturgeon (Batchawana B) 2.JPG, Lake sturgeon, Batchawana Bay, Lake Superior (live released). File:Lakesturgeon public U.S.Fish&Wildlife.jpg, Lake sturgeon. File:Juvenile lake sturgeon (Goulais B) 2.JPG, Juvenile lake sturgeon
Goulais Bay, Lake Superior. File:Juvenile lake sturgeon (Goulais B) 3.JPG, Juvenile lake sturgeon
Goulais Bay, Lake Superior. File:Oh hey there baby lake sturgeon! (15609929482).jpg, A very juvenile lake sturgeon.


See also

* Saskatchewan River Sturgeon Management Board


References

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q1387932 Acipenser Freshwater fish of the Arctic Freshwater fish of the United States Fish of Canada Fish of the Eastern United States Fish of the Great Lakes Fish described in 1817 Taxa named by Constantine Samuel Rafinesque