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WHITE STURGEON

Acipenser transmontonus

John M. Regan

                Watching "River Monsters" on Animal Planet the other day I became intrigued by one of our very own Northwest Wildlife freshwater monsters - the sturgeon.  The show, one of my favorites by the way, concentrated on the White Sturgeon, but there are two species in the northwest, the White and the Green Sturgeon.  The White Sturgeon is more common than the Green yet neither is a sight familiar to most people in our part of the country despite the fact that these giants range from California to Alaska.

            Sturgeons belong to the Acipenseridae family.  Twenty five species of Acipenseridae fish inhabit planet earth, all are cold water lovers of the northern hemisphere of both coastal and freshwater.  The Acipenseridae are characterized by two very distinctive features.  First is their enormity.  Our own White Sturgeon reaches lengths of 20 feet and 1800 pounds, but the Beluga of North Asia is reported to hit 28 feet and weights of three thousand pounds!  How'd you like to have that on the end of your line?

            The second unique feature of the Acinpenseridae is a mysteriosuly prehistoric appearance.  You cannot look at these seemingly armor plated monsters and avoid thinking of the ancient past.  Five rows of bony scales protrude along the dorsal (back), ventral (underside), and lateral sides of the fish.  This impression of a prehistoric natural history is accurate.  Sturgeon are descended from the ancient Palaeoniscids, a branch that also gave rise to the paddlefish and gar pikes, themselves possessed of huge and ferocious anatomies.  All are counted among the largest fish in the world.

            Our northwest sturgeon according to the National Audobon Societiy's "Field Guide to the Pacific Northwest," prefers soft bottomed coastal waters, estuaries, and larger rivers such as the Columbia that runs between the boundary of Washington and Oregon.  Indeed it was in the Columbia River that the host of "River Monsters" finally did catch a white sturgeon.

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            But if this fish is so big and so common how come we never see the thing?  I'll bet most people who live down south can readily spin a tale of giant garfish, and my northern cousins all have a story or two (or more) of huge gar pike they've seen or caught.  Where's our northwest bragging rights?  Well, the problem is we have the rights - but not the sights.  Both of our sturgeon, like sturgeon everywhere, inhabit murky and relatively deep waters.  They are bottom feeders and search for food with several large "barbells" that droop from under the fish's head.  The sturgeon's mouth is located under the elongated head of the fish.  Looking at the animal from underneath it appears to have large, almost human looking lips.  When the sturgeon's sensitive barbell feelers detect crustaceans, worms, or other edibles in the lake floor their mouth quickly protrudes and sucks up the prey. 

            The White Sturgeon is said to live to a ripe old age of one hundred years.  Although this is probably true given its enormous size, I cannot verify a specific study that points to this conclusion.  What I do know is that this is a wonderfully beautiful example of our Northwest wildlife and a fascinating creature.

HOOAH

Jack

Sources:  Audubon Society, "Field Guide to the Pacific Northwest;" "Coastal Fishes of the Pacific Northwest" by Andy Lamb and Phil Edgell; "Vertebrate Biology" by Robert T. Orr, PhD.

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