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Size
3.3 feet (1 m) -
Diet
Aquatic insect larvae -
Range
North America -
Habitat
Bottom of turbid rivers, where currents are strong
Physical Characteristics
- Has a broad shovel-shaped snout with four fringed barbels in front of its mouth. Upper and lower lips each have four distinct fleshy lobes.
- The body tapers abruptly towards the tail. The peduncle is slender and well armored with bony plates. Scale-like scutes, or bony external plates, cover the belly. Pale to medium gray or brownish dorsally and white below.
- Can reach up to 3.3 feet (1 m) in length and weigh up to 11 pounds.
Animal Fun Fact
Shovelnose sturgeons use barbels to detect prey at the bottom of rivers.
Diet / Feeding
- The diet consists of insect larvae, specifically burrowing mayflies and caddisfly larvae.
- Detects prey with fringed barbels in the substrate.
Range / Habitat
- Originates from the large rivers of the Mississippi River basin, the Mobile Bay drainage in Alabama, the Tennessee River, and the Upper Rio Grande River in New Mexico.
- In the present day, it is predominant in the Mississippi Basin, rare in Mobile Bay drainage and extinct in the Rio Grande.
- Found in main channels and bays of turbid rivers where currents are strong enough to keep the gravel substrate clear of silt.
- Usually found at depths of 6-23 feet (2-7 m).
Reproduction & Growth
- Slow-growing fish that are long-lived, some attaining 43 years of age or more.
- Spawning is reported to occur from April to June in large rivers with rivers in areas with rocky substrates and swift currents.
Conservation Status
- “Vulnerable” on the IUCN Red List.
- International trade has been restricted under CITES Appendix II since 1998.
Additional Information
- It is the most common mid-American sturgeon.
Sources
- www.fishbase.org
- iucnredlist.org
- Peterson Field Guides: Freshwater Fishes. Page, L. and Burr, B., pgs. 27 – 28
- Fishes of Alabama. Boschung Jr., H. T. and Mayden, R. L., pgs. 107 -108
- The Fishes of Tennessee. Etnier, D. A. and Starnes, W. C., pgs 102 -103
