Lake Sturgeon 



H in head; D. 38; A. 27; dorsal plates 10 to 14; lateral 27 to 29; 

 ventral 8 to 11. Shields not strongly striated; stellate plates 

 small, in about 10 rows, with smaller ones interspersed; last 

 dorsal shield more than half length of one before it; snout rather 

 sharp, about as long as rest of head, becoming shorter and 

 blunter with age; barbels short, not reaching mouth, inserted 

 nearly midway between mouth and tip of snout; gillrakers small, 

 slender, pointed, sparse, not longer than pupil; lower lobe of tail 

 rather sharp; anal more than half as long as the dorsal fm and 

 placed mostly below it; anterior rays of pectoral thickened. Olive 

 gray, paler below. 



Maximum length about 10 feet; weight 500 pounds. This 

 is the common sturgeon of our Atlantic Coast and coastal rivers, 

 and ranges from Maine to South Carolina. It is most abundant 

 in the Delaware and occurs in some numbers in all the larger 

 streams of this coast, particularly in the Hudson, Susquehanna, 

 and James. The species is migratory in habit,spending much 

 time in salt water in or near the bays, and running up the rivers 

 to brackish or fresh water at spawning time. 



Lake Sturgeon 



Acipenser riibicundus. (Le Sueur) 



The lake sturgeon is found as an inhabitant of the Great 

 Lakes and the larger rivers connected therewith, Lake of the 

 Woods, and many of the Canadian lakes. It was formerly abund- 

 ant in the upper Mississippi Valley and is still found in some 

 numbers in the Mississippi and in the lower portions of the Ohio, 

 Missouri, and its other large tributaries. It is now perhaps most 

 abundant in the Lake of the Woods, where the annual catch in 

 1894 on the United States side amounted to i,os9,267 pounds. 

 Since then the decrease has been very rapid, until in 1899 the 

 catch was only 197,033 pounds. Among the Great Lakes it is 



