Showing posts sorted by relevance for query STURGEON FOSSIL FISH. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query STURGEON FOSSIL FISH. Sort by date Show all posts

Friday, December 15, 2023

Sturgeon could SHOULD be listed as endangered species, but Wisconsin’s congressional reps want an exemption. Here’s why.

Paul A. Smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A bipartisan group of Wisconsin's congressional delegation has urged the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to exempt lake sturgeon in the state from any potential listing under the federal Endangered Species Act.

The agency is conducting a status review of lake sturgeon in the U.S. to determine if listing is warranted; it is scheduled to release its findings by June 30, 2024.

A federal listing under the ESA could prohibit angling for or spearing the fish in Wisconsin. The state hosts annual hook-and-line and spearing seasons for lake sturgeon managed by the Department of Natural Resources.

It a statement issued Dec. 7 the six U.S. representatives and two senators highlighted the robust sturgeon population in Wisconsin, the strong state-based management program as well as the cultural, ecological and economical values of the fish.

"Nowhere in the world will you find such a unique cultural connection and staunch dedication to the preservation of sturgeon population levels than in Wisconsin," the group wrote. "In fact, due to such careful management, populations in the state thrive and allow for a sustainable spear harvest season on the Winnebago System every winter. We are concerned that a potential listing of the species under the Endangered Species Act could curtail this successful, science-based management model as well as threaten a cherished and unique Wisconsin tradition."

Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher, whose district includes part of the Winnebago System, led the effort on the statement. It was also signed by Republican Reps. Scott Fitzgerald, Glenn Grothman,, Bryan Steil, Tom Tiffany and Derrick Van Orden as well as Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Republican Sen. Ron Johnson.

In 2018 the USFWS received a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity requesting the agency list the lake sturgeon range-wide or as several distinct population segments.

The next year the agency concluded the petition presented "substantial scientific or commercial information indicating listing may be warranted" and initiated a status review process, according to a statement from Melissa Clark, USFWS public affairs specialist.

The USFWS is actively engaged in the review and is gathering and referencing the "best scientific and commercial data available, which includes information regarding States’ management practices for lake sturgeon throughout the range of the species," Clark said.

Lake sturgeon are one of the oldest fish species in North America and are native to at least two dozen states in the central, southern and eastern U.S. according to the USFWS. In Wisconsin they are found in Lakes Michigan and Superior as well as the Wisconsin, Chippewa and Flambeau, Wolf and Fox rivers, among others.

The Wisconsin congressional delegation said the importance of the prehistoric fish is rooted in the Menominee Tribe’s strong cultural ties to the lake sturgeon. The tribe includes sturgeon in its creation story and also relied on the fish as a food source.

The species declined over the last century in many parts of its historical range due to pollution, overfishing and loss of access to spawning habitat.

But several populations are exceptions, including the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair in Lake Huron in Michigan, the Rainy River and Lake of the Woods in Minnesota and the Winnebago System in Wisconsin, said Ron Bruch, retired DNR fisheries director and former sturgeon biologist.

After a period of closed seasons in the early 20th Century due to concerns of overharvest, the sturgeon population in the Winnebago System (lakes Butte des Morts, Poygan, Winnebago and Winneconne and the Fox and Wolf rivers) has grown to become one of the largest in the world, Bruch said.

Fisheries staff with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service net a lake sturgeon for processing at Bamboo Bend on the Wolf River in Shiocton. The fish were measured, sexed and had a passive integrated transponder (PIT tag) implanted and then released back to the river.
Fisheries staff with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service net a lake sturgeon for processing at Bamboo Bend on the Wolf River in Shiocton. The fish were measured, sexed and had a passive integrated transponder (PIT tag) implanted and then released back to the river.

More: Outdoors calendar

The DNR establishes a sturgeon population estimate each year using a mark and recapture process. In 2022 the population was estimated at 12,304 adult females and 24,061 adult males, as well as an undetermined number of juvenile fish, according to the DNR sturgeon stock assessment report.

And strict regulations limit the harvest of sturgeon to ensure the health of the population, Bruch said.

"The sturgeon population in the Winnebago System is as large now as any time after settlement times," Bruch said. "It's strong and naturally-reproducing. In no way is it threatened or endangered."

The two-week sturgeon spearing season is responsible for an estimated $3.5 million economic impact and sturgeon conservation is a major part in the over $200 million annual impact fishing brings to the Winnebago System, according to the Wisconsin congressional members.

In 2023 the DNR sold 13,219 sturgeon spearing licenses and 1,405 sturgeon were registered over the 16-day spearing season in February on the Winnebago System.

A hook-and-line sturgeon season is held in fall on many major river systems in the state. Anglers are allowed to keep one fish per year but most fishing is catch-and-release. The statewide harvest of sturgeon during the fall season has averaged 33 fish over the last 15 years, according to the DNR. The hook-and-line season is not held on the Winnebago System.

Money raised from the sale of sturgeon spearing and fishing licenses is used to fund Wisconsin sturgeon management programs.

A representative for the Center for Biological Diversity, the organization that asked for the review, said it's most likely the most imperiled populations – Lake Superior, Missouri River, Ohio River, Arkansan-White River, and lower Mississippi, in their view – would get listed.

"The loss of lake sturgeon has been analogous to the slaughter of the buffalo," said Jeff Miller, senior conservation advocate for CBD. "Now there are only nine populations in entire U.S. with more than 1,000 adult fish."

However, Miller said his group doesn't oppose a DNR-managed harvest season in the Winnebago System.

"We don’t see any problem with the short spear-fishing fishery in the Lake Winnebago System and the Upriver Lakes," Miller said. "It hosts a large population of lake sturgeon, and there are strict regulations and quotas."

But the CBD would like to see added protections for sturgeon in other parts of Wisconsin, including lakes Michigan and Superior and their tributaries as well as the Chippewa River.

Lake sturgeon swim along the rocky shore of the Wolf River at Bamboo Bend in Shiocton. The fish congregate at the site to spawn in spring.
Lake sturgeon swim along the rocky shore of the Wolf River at Bamboo Bend in Shiocton. The fish congregate at the site to spawn in spring.

If lake sturgeon were listed under the ESA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service could still allow state fisheries to hold harvest seasons with a fish management plan that is consistent with recovery.

The Wisconsin congressional members asked the Service to to take into "strong consideration the conservation success story of the species in Wisconsin."

"Instead of imposing a nationwide, one-size-fits-all listing that could curtail the state’s management plan and threaten a long-cherished tradition, we ask that Wisconsin lake sturgeon be exempt from any potential ESA listing," they wrote. "Furthermore, we encourage the Service to engage with the Wisconsin DNR, local communities, and other relevant stakeholders to help expand this model to other states and ensure the continued existence of lake sturgeon for generations to come."

The statement by members of Wisconsin's congressional delegation follows an October letter with a similar message signed by 29 members of the state legislature.

A public comment period will be held after the Service issues its findings in June 2024.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Lawmakers want Wisconsin sturgeon exempt from endangered species list


Posted by at No comments:

Monday, September 26, 2022

FOSSIL FISH
Sudden die-off of endangered sturgeon alarms Canadian biologists
White sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) in the Fraser River.
 Photograph: Cavan Images/Alamy

The deaths within days of 11 sturgeon, a species unchanged for thousands of years, have puzzled scientists

Leyland Cecco in Toronto
THE GUARDIAN
Mon 26 Sep 2022

When the first spindly, armour-clad carcass was spotted in the fast-flowing Nechako River in early September, Nikolaus Gantner and two colleagues scrambled out on a jet boat, braving strong currents to investigate the grim discovery.

Days later, the remains of 10 others were spotted floating along a 100km stretch of the river in western Canada.

In total, 11 endangered white sturgeon have mysteriously died in a short period of time, blindsiding biologists, who are trying to save a fish teetering towards extinction.

The species has remained relatively unchanged in 200m years: toothless apex hunters that glide gracefully in a handful of British Columbia’s rivers. To navigate the murky waters, sturgeon gently brush whisker-like barbels that hang from their snout along the gravelly bottom.

White sturgeon, with a torso clad in five distinct bony plates called scutes, look every inch a prehistoric fish. The largest ever recorded reached 20ft long and another, believed to be 104 years old, weighed nearly 1,800 lbs.

The Nechako River, where the sturgeon population has dropped from 5,000 to 500 in the past century. Photograph: Fernando Lessa/Alamy

“When you see a massive head appearing through the murky water and the eyes look at you, it’s just incredible to see this majestic animal alive,” said Gantner, a senior fisheries biologist with the British Columbia government. “And you gain respect for it, knowing that most fish we see are older than us.”

The rapid succession of deaths has taken an unexpected emotional toll on Gantner and his colleagues.

“I’m deeply saddened. These last couple of weeks, I feel like I’m going through grief,” he said. Each time he and colleagues tenderly move the hulking carcasses of the fish from the shore to the freezer and on to the necropsy table, he feels a pang of sorrow. “I don’t think I felt like that from other fish that I’ve worked with.”

So far, there are no obvious answers. The team hasn’t found any sign of trauma nor evidence of chemical exposure, disease, or angling-induced death.

“Whatever it is, it affects larger sturgeon, not other species. It’s constrained to a place in time and space. So that gives us some clues,” said Steve McAdam, a biologist with the province’s ministry of land, water and resource stewardship. “In a way, it’s easier to rule a bunch of stuff out than to rule some things in.”

The deaths in the Nechako are particularly painful for McAdam, who studied a similar die-off in the lower Fraser River in 1993 and 1994, when the region lost 36 fish in two years.

A battery of tests that followed that die-off was inconclusive, said McAdam; the events occurred in differing ecosystems, hundreds of kilometres apart, offering limited clues to investigators.

Because the team investigating the current episode has a narrow window of time to recover dead sturgeon before decomposition sets in and destroys valuable clues, they have appealed to the public for help. In a region where the fish have deep cultural ties to First Nations and are part of the curriculum in local schools, residents have paid close attention to the phenomenon.

A range of theories have been suggested, including a belief that elevated water temperatures are to blame. But McAdam said previous hot summers had not triggered similar die-offs.

“There’s no end to the ideas. There are some partial explanations, but we’re really trying to keep an open mind and not veer too far down one path,” he said.

To navigate in murky waters, sturgeon gently brush whisker-like barbels that hang from their snouts along the gravelly bottom.
 Photograph: Minden Pictures/Alamy

Before the mysterious die-offs, white sturgeon, which are listed as a federal species at risk, were already in trouble.

Over the last century, the numbers in the Nechako River have dropped from more than 5,000 to only 500. Soon after a dam was built on the Nechako River in 1957, the species experienced what biologists call “recruitment failure” – new fish weren’t being added to the population.

It is from within that ageing population, already missing an entire generation of fish, that the 11 have died.

Overfishing, drainage projects and dam construction have all contributed to the collapse. On all the rivers in the province where sturgeon once thrived, dams have crushed their populations. Only the Fraser River, the largest without a dam, has a relatively healthy sturgeon population in the tens of thousands.

British Columbia has worked since 2001 to help the species recover, drawing teams of provincial and federal biologists, First Nations groups and the industries tied to sturgeon habitat loss, like hydroelectric dam operators.

Efforts include using hatcheries, a “stopgap measure” to help the population recover, as well a longer-term goal of restoring habitat.

But the sudden death of 11 members of a species already spiralling towards demise mirrors a trend all over the world: sturgeon have become the most threatened genus of fish.

All of the 26 remaining species of sturgeon are now at risk of extinction. They are the victims of overfishing; in some species, like beluga sturgeon, the roe is prized as caviar. And the habitats they have persisted in are disappearing.

“They are a quite a charismatic species and it’s a fish that has been around for millions of years. So you don’t take it lightly when it’s in danger,” McAdam said.

The abruptness with which the fish have died has puzzled biologists in part because white sturgeon have been closely studied and monitored for the last three decades, precisely because of their precarious situation.

“And then within a week, this happens. We have a new huge question mark,” said Gantner. “It’s really blindsided us.”

Both Gantner and McAdam were hopeful that the deaths will serve a broader end, providing valuable insight to biologists into what might have happened – and how a similar outcome can be prevented in the future.

Because the other option – that they have already reached some kind of a tipping point – is too bleak to consider.

“We’ve never done the experiment of eliminating them fully and seeing how truly important sturgeon are to an ecosystem,” said McAdam. “And personally, I don’t think we ever want to.”



Posted by at No comments:

Tuesday, July 18, 2023

 

How fish evolved their bony, scaly armor

by California Institute of Technology

How fish evolved their bony, scaly armor
A reconstruction of a single sturgeon scute, close up. Bone-forming cells are marked in 
magenta. Credit: J. Stundl

About 350 million years ago, your evolutionary ancestors—and the ancestors of all modern vertebrates—were merely soft-bodied animals living in the oceans. In order to survive and evolve to become what we are today, these animals needed to gain some protection and advantage over the ocean's predators, which were then dominated by crustaceans.

The evolution of dermal armor, like the sharp spines found on an armored catfish or the bony diamond-shaped scales, called scutes, covering a sturgeon, was a successful strategy. Thousands of species of fish utilized varying patterns of dermal armor, composed of bone and/or a substance called dentine, an important component of modern human teeth. Protective coatings like these helped vertebrates survive and evolve further into new animals and ultimately humans.

But where did this armor come from? How did our ancient underwater ancestors evolve to grow this protective coat?

Now, using sturgeon fish, a new study finds that a specific population of stem cells, called trunk , are responsible for the development of bony scutes in fish. The work was conducted by Jan Stundl, now a Marie Sklodowska-Curie postdoctoral scholar in the laboratory of Marianne Bronner, the Edward B. Lewis Professor of Biology and director of the Beckman Institute at Caltech. A paper describing the research appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on July 17.

The Bronner laboratory has long been interested in studying neural crest cells. Found in all vertebrates including fish, chickens, and ourselves, these cells become specialized based on whether they arise from the head (cranial) or spinal cord (trunk) regions. Both cranial and trunk neural crest cells migrate from their starting points throughout the animal's developing body, giving rise to the cells that make up the jaws, heart, and other important structures.

After a 2017 study from the University of Cambridge showed that trunk neural crest cells give rise to dentine-based dermal armor in a type of fish called the little skate, Stundl and his colleagues hypothesized that the same population of cells might also give rise to bone-based armor in vertebrates broadly.

To study this, Stundl and the team turned to the sturgeon fish, specifically the sterlet sturgeon (Acipenser ruthenus). Modern sturgeons, best known for their production of the world's most expensive caviar, still have many of the same characteristics as their ancestors from millions of years ago. This makes them prime candidates for .

How fish evolved their bony, scaly armor
Jan Stundl holds a sturgeon fish in the laboratory. Credit: J. Stundl

Using sturgeon embryos grown at the Research Institute of Fish Culture and Hydrobiology in the Czech Republic, Stundl and his team used fluorescent dye to track how the fish's trunk neural crest cells migrated throughout its developing body. Sturgeons begin to develop their bony scutes after a couple of weeks, so the researchers kept the growing fish in a darkened lab in order to not disturb the  with light.

The team found fluorescently labeled trunk neural crest cells in the exact locations where the sturgeon's bony scutes were forming. They then used a different technique to highlight the fish's osteoblasts, a type of cell that forms bone. Genetic signatures associated with osteoblast differentiation were found in the fluorescent cells in the fish's developing scutes, providing strong evidence that the trunk neural crest cells do in fact give rise to bone-forming cells.

Combined with the 2017 findings about neural crest cells' role in forming dentine-based armor, the work shows that trunk neural crest cells are indeed responsible for giving rise to the bony dermal armor that enabled the evolutionary success of vertebrate .

"Working with non-model organisms is tricky; the tools that exist in standard lab organisms like mouse or zebrafish either do not work or need to be significantly adapted," says Stundl. "Despite these challenges, information from non-model organisms like  allows us to answer fundamental evolutionary developmental biology questions in a rigorous manner."

"By studying many animals on the tree of life, we can infer what evolutionary events have taken place," says Bronner. "This is particularly powerful if we can approach evolutionary questions from a developmental biology perspective, since many changes that led to diverse cell types occurred via small alterations in embryonic development."

The paper is titled "Ancient vertebrate dermal armor evolved from trunk neural ."

More information: Jan Stundl et al, Ancient vertebrate dermal armor evolved from trunk neural crest, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2221120120

Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 


Provided by California Institute of Technology 


Parasitic fish offer evolutionary insights




Posted by at No comments:

Saturday, June 25, 2022

FOSSIL FISH=FRESH LAKE MONSTER
Huge 100-year-old Sturgeon Caught by Newbie Fishermen, Thrown Back in River

Jessica Thomson - Yesterday 

© Steve Ecklund / River Monster Adventures
The fishermen with the huge fish (left), and the fish jumping out of the water as they fought to reel it in (right).

A gargantuan white sturgeon that is over ten feet long and estimated to be at least 100-years-old has been caught by fishermen in British Columbia.

Novice fishermen Steve Ecklund and Mark Boise went on a fishing trip near Lillooet, B.C., with guides from River Monster Adventures, Nick McCabe and Tyler Speed, on Father's Day, when they caught the enormous fish.

The sturgeon put up a big fight: it took two hours to wrestle it into the boat, with videos showing the beast leaping out of the water, revealing its true size.

White sturgeon are the largest freshwater fish in North America, growing up to 14 ft long, and weighing up to 1,500 lbs. According to the Fraser River Sturgeon Conservation Society, white sturgeons can also live for over 150 years.

This sturgeon had not been previously tagged, leading River Monster Adventures to suspect that this may have been the first time it had been caught, which considering its age, is surprising.

Ecklund said that the sturgeon measured 10 feet and one inch long, and had a girth of 57 inches.

"Our last fish of the day ends up being the largest sturgeon caught in the company's history!" he said in a Facebook post. "This beast would definitely push 700lbs and be north of 100 years old."

Commenting on the post, River Monster Adventures wrote: "We are lost for words what a true dinosaur."

The guides scoured the river using sonar equipment to help the fishermen find the biggest catch they could. Once caught and photographed, the behemoth fish was released back into the river, as has been the rule in British Columbia for the past 25 years. Violation of this law can result in hefty fines.

Despite being able to release up to three million eggs per spawn, sturgeons only spawn every few years, meaning that they cannot easily recover their populations in the face of threats.

Sturgeon populations are in decline in parts of British Columbia, and in other habitats within its range, like California. California has occasionally seen over five consecutive years of very low population growth from spawns. The population decline may be due to destruction of habitats important to spawning, and impacts of reduced food supply.

Poaching of the sturgeons is also a problem, as the eggs of sturgeons are in fact caviar, which can sell on the black market for between $100 and $150 per lb.

In 2003, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada classified all populations of white sturgeon in Canada "endangered," with the exception of the Lower Fraser river population, which is now instead considered threatened.



Posted by at No comments:

Friday, January 12, 2024

Hikers discover 72-million-year-old sturgeon skull in Edmonton River Valley

Story by Caley Gibson • 22h

A fragment of a 72-million-year-old sturgeon was discovered in Edmonton's River Valley in February 2023.© Global News

A fragment of a 72-million-year-old sturgeon has been unearthed in Edmonton’s River Valley.

The discovery was made by hikers in Capilano Park in February 2023.

What they thought might be a fragment of dinosaur skin turned out to be a skull belonging to an ancient sturgeon.

Researchers at the University of Alberta believe the fish would have been two metres long when it was alive.

This is the first new species of fossil fish discovered within Edmonton, according to researchers, who have named the species Boreiosturion labyrinthicus. The name references the labyrinth or maze-like patterns on the skull.

Luke Nelson, co-author of a study recently published about the find, said the most interesting thing about the new sturgeon fossil is the distinct patterns on the back of its skull.

“There are three unique patterns, different from anything previously described from the time period,” Nelson said. “This is from a part of the Cretaceous Period from which we didn’t have any North American sturgeon before."

Sturgeons are found in North American freshwater environments and still exist and live in the North Saskatchewan River as a protected species.

The freshwater Horseshoe Canyon Formation, where Capilano Park now lies, took shape roughly 72.2 to 73 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period.

U of A researchers say this fossil fills a gap in what is known about the distribution of sturgeons during the end of the Cretaceous Period, before the mass extinction event that wiped out dinosaurs.

The discovery also fills a geographical gap between the fish being found in southern Alberta, Montana and North Dakota, and Alaska and Peace River farther north.

“One really cool thing about this fossil is that it represents an ancestor of something that we have still alive today," Nelson explained. "We still have sturgeons in Edmonton. We have lake sturgeons, which are pretty large species of sturgeons around two metres in length.

“It’s very cool to learn more about the evolutionary history of the species that we still have around today.”

Nelson urged anyone who comes upon something they believe may be a fossil of any kind to contact the U or A or the Royal Tyrrell Museum.

"It could be of very big importance to paleontology as a field," he said. “Our goal as paleontologists is to kind of piece together a larger picture of how the world was back in time.

“With this, we can gain more knowledge about the ecosystem in general. If this was just sitting in someone’s house, that would just not be doing the same amount of purpose. So I think it is really important if you find something you think is cool, call it in.”

Nelson also stressed the importance of preserving the current sturgeon in the North Saskatchewan River.

“They’re some of the largest bony fish we have today and have been around since dinosaurs were walking around on land,” he said. “They almost look like dinosaurs, because they’ve got these massive sizes and enormous scales running down their back that make them look kind of wicked.”

The sturgeon skull is now being housed in the U of A’s laboratory for vertebrate paleontology.


Posted by at No comments:

Friday, December 02, 2022

White sturgeon-Columbia River’s largest anadromous fish


Thu, December 1, 2022 
Wild Files: It’s our Nature
By Chadd Cawson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Sturgeon have been around for over 200 million years, working their way through the waters while dinosaurs roamed the earth. Like salmon they are an anadromous fish with 27 species worldwide and are the primary source for the delicacy caviar. White sturgeon are the largest anadromous fish in Canada and are only found in B.C. They can be easily identified from the dual rows of four to eight ganoid bony plates and despite their name are often a grey or brownish shade on their dorsal side. They have barbels which are located near the snout anterior to their mouths.

Seen swimming in many of our Columbia Valley waterways such as our upper Columbia River, and some of it’s tributaries like Arrow, Slocan, and Kootenay lake to name a few. White sturgeon is native to the Pacific coast which is why they are only found throughout B.C. but unlike their swimming buddies, Pacific salmon white sturgeon do not die upon spawning and often live to be over years 100 old.

When it comes to their own diet they feed on shellfish, crustaceans, small fish like herring and shad, insects, and gastropods but aside from humans can also make a tasty dinner for sharks, sea lions and other marine mammals. In the sturgeon world males mature faster sexually than females and are ready to spawn between the age of 12 and 18 years old. For female white sturgeon they don’t reach their full maturity to spawn until they reach between 25 and 30 years old.

Female sturgeon has many suitors and will have their eggs fertilized by many males during spawning season which happens between May and July. When a female releases her eggs, they develop an adhesive coat and are negatively buoyant upon contact with water. Dependent on the water’s temperature hatching of these eggs can take anywhere from three to 13 days. After the egg incubates, they go through the larvae and fry stage before becoming a juvenile sturgeon which at that time can become more independent with it swimming and feeding. This their last stage before maturing into full adults, when first becoming juveniles, they are typically only 10 cm long.

Quite a catch

White sturgeon have a reputation for being a challenge to catch. They can reach lengths of up to 610 cm with an average mass weighing over 500 kg. White sturgeon are considered quite rare with data showing they have seen quite a population decline over the last 30 years. Schools, or groups of white sturgeon are made up of seniors these days rounding the age of a century as they navigate the waters, one could say they are old school. When one does reel one of these remarkable ancient beauties in on the Columbia River it is intended to be recreational with an expectation to catch and release. The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) has assessed White Sturgeon in B.C. as threatened with declines particularly in both the Fraser and Columbia River.




Fish tales

All fish are vital to Indigenous people for their survival and sustainability. While sturgeon may not be considered as sacred as salmon, they still certainly hold their place. In some cultures, and folklore, the Sturgeon Moon is connected to how abundant sturgeon once were, and easy to catch come the end of summer. Because of the sheer size of sturgeon, a single catch would feed many. On record the largest white sturgeon ever caught dates to the 1800’s and weighed just over 680 kg, and needed the aid of horses to reel it in.

Chadd Cawson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Columbia Valley Pioneer








Posted by at No comments:

Wednesday, December 07, 2022

SOS SAVE OUR STURGEON
Angler Catches Super-Rare 'Dinosaur' Fish in Kansas River, Throws It Back

Story by Pandora Dewan • Yesterday 

An extremely rare species of fish was recently caught in the Kansas River by an angler. This was only the 16th reported catch of the endangered lake sturgeon in Kansas in over 25 years, the state's Department of Wildlife and Parks said.


Photo of Kevin Zirjacks with the rare lake sturgeon. After taking the photos he returned the endangered animal back to the water.© Kevin Zirjacks/Kansas Wildlife and Parks

THAT IS CLEARLY A JUVENILE

The department shared the news of the catch in a post on Facebook. "I knew I had a special fish once I landed this fish," fisherman Kevin Zirjacks said in response to the post. "Never thought I would ever see one of these dinosaurs, let alone be able to actually hold one. Definitely a catch I will remember for the rest of my life."

After taking photos with the fish, Kirjacks released it back into the water.

Lake sturgeon can be found throughout North America, from Hudson Bay to the Mississippi River. They are the oldest and largest species native to the Great Lakes, first appearing in the fossil record about 135 million years ago, 70 years before the dinosaurs went extinct.

Lake sturgeon themselves can live very long lives, with females reportedly living for as long as 150 years, the National Wildlife Federation said. They are also massive, growing up to 6.5 feet long and weighing up to 200 pounds.


Before the 19th century, lake sturgeon were abundant throughout the Great Lakes. However, overfishing in the 1800s and 1900s dramatically reduced their populations. Today, the species is dwindling in its northern territories, and it is considered endangered in the southern parts of its range.

Efforts to reintroduce this freshwater fish have been slow because of their long life cycle. Females usually do not start producing eggs until they are at least 20 years old.

Zirjacks detailed how he used special equipment to avoid injuring the endangered fish. "The green thing is an unhooking cradle," he said, referring to the green tarpaulin seen in his photograph. "It's a great tool when catch and release fishing. Gives you a padded place to put your fish after landing them.

"It's raised off the ground to keep them nice and clean.... Makes handling the fish way easier and lets you get them back in the water quicker. Really comes in handy when handling bigger fish," he said.

While efforts continue to attempt to revive this population, the lake sturgeon is facing other environmental threats. Water pollution and invasive aquatic species have made their habitats less hospitable, and climate change is expected to decrease the quality and quantity of nursery and spawning sites and exacerbate existing problems.

ADULT STURGEON




Posted by at No comments:

Friday, July 22, 2022

FOSSIL FISH EXTINCTION
Chinese paddlefish, last seen in 2003, now officially extinct due to human activity


July 21 (UPI) -- The Chinese paddlefish, a freshwater fish that has been known to live for as many as 100 years, has been officially ruled extinct and more than two dozen similar fish are also threatened, wildlife officials said Thursday.


© Provided by UPI News CBS News YouTube

The World Wild Fund for Nature announced the status changes in a report that was based on a 13-year sturgeon and paddlefish study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Sturgeon Specialist Group.

The study said that the Chinese paddlefish, which are closely related to sturgeons, were last seen almost 20 years ago and has died out due to human activity such as overfishing and dam-building.

"The assessment officially declares the extinction of the Chinese paddlefish, the extinction in the wild of the Yangtze sturgeon and the regional extinction of ship sturgeon in the Danube," the WWF said in a statement Thursday.The study also said almost two-thirds of sturgeon and paddlefish species are now critically endangered on the IUCN's Red List of Threatened Species.

"There's something to be said about humanity, when a species that's outlived the dinosaurs is pushed to the brink of extinction by humans who have, in comparison, existed for a mere blip in time," Beate Striebel-Greiter, WWF Lead of the Global Sturgeon Initiative, said in a statement.

"We call on countries to stop turning a blind eye to the extinction of sturgeon and implement the solutions they know can help save these iconic species.

Sturgeon are among the planet's largest freshwater fish and can grow to 23 feet and weigh up to 1.6 tons. The WWF said sturgeon have been around since the dinosaurs and have remained almost unchanged since.

"The world's failure to safeguard sturgeon species is an indictment of governments across the globe, who are failing to sustainably manage their rivers and live up to their commitments to conserve these iconic fish and halt the global loss of nature," Arne Ludwig, chair of the IUCN Sturgeon Specialist Group, said in a statement.

"These shocking -- but sadly not surprising -- assessments mean that sturgeon retain their unwanted title as the world's most threatened group of species."

We have a choice: thriving healthy rivers that nourish and sustain communities around the world or stick with today's failed policies -- leaving us with empty rivers that benefit neither people or nature."






Posted by at No comments:

Saturday, May 01, 2021

FOSSIL FISH
Hold on! 240-pound fish, age 100, caught in Detroit River

© Provided by The Canadian Press

DETROIT — Now that's a whopper — a very old whopper!

A 240-pound (108.8 kilograms) sturgeon that could be more than 100 years old was caught last week in the Detroit River by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The "real life river monster" was nearly 7 feet (2.1 metres) long, the agency said Friday on Facebook, where the photo was shared more than 24,000 times by late afternoon.

“Based on its girth and size, it is assumed to be a female and that she has been roaming our waters over 100 years. She was quickly released back into the river” after being weighed and measured, the Fish and Wildlife Service said.

The typical lifespan is 55 years for a male sturgeon and 70 to 100 years for females, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

This fish was caught on April 22 near Grosse Ile, south of Detroit, while a three-person crew was conducting an annual sturgeon study. Frozen round goby, a tasty snack for a sturgeon, was used as bait on a long line that was deep in the river.

It took about six minutes to get the fish into the boat with a net.

“I felt the fish thumping on the line. As it got closer, it just got bigger and bigger,” said Jason Fischer, who was with fellow biologists Paige Wigren and Jennifer Johnson.

Wigren recalled thinking, “Yep, this is going to be a real good fish story.”

“She was tired out and didn't fight us very much,” Wigren said. “Imagine everything that fish has lived through and seen.”

Lake sturgeon are listed as a threatened species in Michigan. Anglers can keep one a year, but only if the fish is a certain size and is caught in a few state waters. All sturgeon caught in the Detroit River must be released.

IN CANADA ALL FRESH WATER STURGEON ARE CAPTURE
AND RELEASE.


Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, April 27, 2023

First ever sturgeon to be found in Africa

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH

African sturgeon 

VIDEO: FIRST EVER STURGEON TO BE FOUND IN AFRICA view more 

CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH

A fossil of a ‘royal fish’ - estimated to be over 66 million years old - is the first ever to be found in Africa. 

Sturgeon have historically been found in the cooler waters of the Northern Hemisphere, excluding Africa, but this specimen was discovered in Morocco by a University of Portsmouth palaeontologist. 

The discovery of this fossil in Africa is particularly significant because it is the first of its kind to be found on the continent, suggesting that sturgeons were once more widespread than previously thought.

Professor David Martill noticed the fossil when he was visiting a well-known Moroccan fossil site during a field trip last November. He said: “I found a piece of rock with bucklers, the bony external plates found on these heavily armoured fish, and I knew straight away it was a sturgeon.

“It was a surprising discovery because all sturgeon species have been exclusively found in the Northern Hemisphere in the past. They’ve been located in North America, Europe, Russian Asia, Chinese Asia, but never in South America, Australia, Africa or India, which are the land masses that made up Gondwana, a supercontinent that existed around 336 million years ago and began breaking up around 150 million years ago.”

Sturgeons have long been valued for their meat and row, which are eaten as caviar. But as a result of overfishing, along with habitat loss, many species are critically endangered. And several are on the verge of extinction in the wild.

Professor Martill said: “Russian beluga caviar is one of the most expensive in the world. Little did we know that at one time an extremely rare African sturgeon could have been a source of this delicacy!”

Sturgeon are often regarded as a living fossil because their ancestors date back to the same time that dinosaurs roamed, over 200 million years ago. They can grow up to seven metres in length and reach a weight of 1.5 tonnes, although such sizes are exceedingly rare today.

In 1324 King Edward II declared them to be royal fish and any found in the waters around England and Wales are technically still owned by the British monarchy, along with whales and dolphins. 

Professor Martill added: “The very first sturgeons appear in the fossil record in the late Triassic period in China. But the oldest true sturgeon ever discovered is probably a specimen in the Steve Etches collection from Dorset’s Jurassic Coast in England, which is mentioned in a book Steve and I wrote about fossils in the Kimmeridge Clay Formation. 

“This new Moroccan species complicates models of the location of the origin of this important group of fish that is typically so widespread in the Northern Hemisphere.”

The specimen is now in the collection of the University King Hassan II, Casablanca. The paper is published in Cretaceous Research.

ENDS 

JOURNAL

Cretaceous Research

DOI

10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105546 

ARTICLE TITLE

A sturgeon (Actinopterygii, Acipenseriformes) from the Upper Cretaceous of Africa



LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for STURGEON 


LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for FOSSIL FISH 


Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)