Atlantic Sturgeon

The Atlantic sturgeon has five rows of bony plates, known as scutes, that run along its body and a snout with four slender, soft tissue projections, called barbels, in front of its mouth. In addition, the tail is like a shark’s where one side, or lobe, is larger than the other. All of these features give the fish its unique look. These sturgeon can reach 14 feet in length.

Atlantic sturgeon can weigh more than 800 pounds. The largest was 811 pounds caught in coastal waters off Canada.  

Atlantic sturgeon arebluish-black or olive brown dorsally, on their back, with paler sides and a white belly. 

Migration Behavior

Atlantic sturgeon migrate up and down the Atlantic coast of North America and into large tidal estuaries like the Chesapeake Bay and Albemarle Sound. The will return to large river systems where they were hatched, like the James River and the Roanoke River, to spawn. 

Atlantic sturgeon live at least 30 years, with the oldest aged to be 60 years old captured from the St. Lawrence River. They don’t mature until at least 10 to 30 years old, and then they reproduce every one to five years.

The males do not mature until they are 5 to 20 years old, and females mature at 7 to 30 years. The southern populations mature sooner than their northern counterparts. Adults live up to 60 years in northern populations, but likely only 25 to 30 years in the southeast. They can reach 14 feet in length.

Female Atlantic sturgeon can lay between 400 thousand and 2 million eggs, depending on the size of the female. Adults return to the ocean after spawning, but may linger in the rivers till fall in northern rivers. Juveniles can spend up to 6 years in freshwater of large rivers or they move downstream into brackish waters near the river mouth, developing a tolerance to salinity as they go.

Adult Atlantic sturgeon spend most of their time in marine areas, but move into freshwater to reproduce. Atlantic sturgeon return to their natal river to spawn, migrating upstream to riverine spawning areas in the spring or early summer. After spawning, the early life stages develop in the freshwater reaches and begin to move downstream to brackish waters where they grow until they are ready to move into the ocean environment as subadults. Adult Atlantic sturgeon will then return to the sea after spawning. Atlantic sturgeon can live for up to 60 years, but in southern rivers live for shorter durations. Southern populations grow more quickly and can reach sexual maturity at age 5 to 19, while in northern rivers the age at maturity could be 34 years. Sturgeon spawn multiple times, with males spawning every 1 to 5 years and females spawning every 2 to 5 years.

?Atlantic sturgeon eat crustaceans, worms and mollusks. As bottom-feeders, they use their barbels to find food and their toothless mouth acts like a vacuum, capturing worms, small fish  and other small animals living on the bottom.

Atlantic sturgeon migrate up and down the Atlantic coast of North America and into large tidal estuaries like the Chesapeake Bay and Albemarle Sound. The will return to large river systems where they were hatched, like the James River and the Roanoke River, to spawn.

?Atlantic sturgeon inhabit the shallow waters of the continental shelf down to a depth of 246 feet and also coastal brackish waters. They enter large river systems to spawn.

The Gulf sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi) is a sub-species of Atlantic sturgeon that ranges from Lake Pontchartrain in Louisiana to the Suwanee River in Florida. Gulf sturgeon can grow to be 6 to 8 feet in length and exhibit similar life history traits to Atlantic sturgeon. Shortnose sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum) are smaller bodied than Atlantic sturgeon and spend more of their lives in freshwater and brackish water, though some populations have been shown to make marine migrations between coastal rivers. Gulf and shortnose sturgeon have also been impacted by dams, habitat degradation, overfishing and other human impacts, which resulted in their listing under the Endangered Species Act. Gulf sturgeon were listed as threatened in 1991 and shortnose sturgeon were listed as endangered in 1967.