66 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



36 Acipenser rubicundus Le Sueur 

 Lake Sturgeon 



Acipenser rubicundus LE SUEUR, Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. I, 388, 1818; DE 

 KAY, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 344, pi. 58, fig. 191, 1842; GUNTHER, 

 Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. VIII, 338, 1870; JORDAN & GILBERT, Bull. 16, 

 TJ. S. Nat. Mus. 87, 1883; JORDAN & EVERMANN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. 

 Mus. 106, 1896. 



Acipenser maculosus GUNTHER, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. VIII, 339, 1870. 



The body of the lake sturgeon is rather more slender than 

 that of the common sturgeon. The snout is rather blunt; in the 

 young long and slender. The shields of the body are large, 

 about 14 on the back, 30 or more on the side, and eight or nine 

 along the abdomen, between pectoral and ventral fins. Each 

 shield is surmounted by a strong hooked spine. The head is con- 

 tained three and one third times in the length without tail. 

 Barbels four, rather long; eye small; dorsal and anal fins small, 

 placed far back as in the pike. D. 35; A. 26. 



This is known as the lake sturgeon, Ohio river sturgeon, rock 

 sturgeon, bony sturgeon, red sturgeon and ruddy sturgeon. It 

 inhabits the Mississippi and Ohio rivers and the Great lakes, 

 and is abundant in the Allegheny. From the lakes it ascends 

 the streams in spring for the purpose of spawning. Dr Richard- 

 son states the northern limit of the sturgeon in North America 

 to be about the 55th parallel of latitude. 



Size. The lake sturgeon is smaller than the common marine 

 sturgeon, the average adult being less than 5 feet in length. 

 The average weight of 14,000 mature sturgeon taken at San- 

 dusky O. was about 50 pounds. It frequently reaches a length 

 of 6 feet. 



Habits. In the lakes the species, according to observations of 

 James W. Milner, inhabits comparatively shoal waters. 



The food of this sturgeon is made up chiefly of shellfish, 

 including the genera Limnaea, Melantho, Physa, 

 P 1 a n o r b i s, and V a 1 v a t a. Eggs of fishes are also to be 

 found in its stomach. 



In Lake Erie the species spawns in June, for which purpose 

 it ascends the rivers in large schools till stopped by obstructions 



