Lake sturgeon

The lake sturgeon (Huso fulvescens), also known as the rock sturgeon, is a North American temperate freshwater fish, one of 27 species of sturgeon. Like other sturgeons, this species is a bottom feeder and has a partly cartilaginous 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) hang near its mouth to help the sturgeon locate bottom-dwelling prey. Lake sturgeons can grow to a large size for freshwater fish, up to 7.25 ft (2.2 m) long and 240 lbs (108 kg).

Distribution

This species occurs in the Mississippi River drainage basin south to Alabama and Mississippi and east to the French Broad River in western North Carolina. It occurs in the Great Lakes, Lake Winnebago System, and the Detroit River, east down the St. Lawrence River to the limits of fresh water. In the west, it reaches Lake Winnipeg and the North Saskatchewan and South Saskatchewan Rivers. In the north, it is found in the Hudson Bay Lowland. In the east, the species lives in Lake Champlain 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 Iroquois).

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.