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The lake sturgeon ( Huso fulvescens), also known as the rock sturgeon, is a temperate freshwater fish, one of 27 species of sturgeon. Like other sturgeons, this species is a bottom feeder and has a partly cartilage skeleton, an overall streamlined shape, and skin bearing rows of bony plates on the sides and back.
The lake sturgeon uses its elongated, spade-like snout to stir up the substrate and sediments on the beds of rivers and lakes to feed. Four sensory organs (barbels) hang near its mouth to help the sturgeon locate bottom-dwelling prey. Lake sturgeons can grow to a large size for freshwater fish, up to 7.25 ft (2.2 m) long and 240 lbs (108 kg).
These sturgeon often migrate in search of food or suitable spawning locations, or in response to seasonal environmental conditions. Juveniles typically inhabit pools greater than about 6 feet in depth, and adults typically live deep in large lakes. They are not often far from suitable spawning locations. The abundance of prey also plays a large factor in finding a suitable habitat.
At hatching, the larvae are barely discernible and are about 10 mm long. The larvae soon become Pelagic zone, remaining far from the surface and bed, and Phototactic, or attracted to darkness, while searching for rocky places to hide. About two weeks after hatching, they disperse downstream with the current for several miles until settling back down upon the river bottom.
As juveniles, all definitive adult structures, except for gonads, form. They are thought to feed on Benthic zone invertebrates like adults. It is thought that during late summer, yearlings gather in large schools in shallow river mouths and bays. The juveniles can be found in the same habitats as adults after a year.
Lake sturgeon are polygamous, maximizing genetic diversity.
This sturgeon is a valuable gourmet food fish, as well as a source of specialty products including caviar and isinglass. "In 1860, this species, taken on incidental catches of other fishes, was killed and dumped back in the lake, piled up on shore to dry and be burned, fed to pigs, or dug into the earth as fertilizer."Scott, W.B. and E.J. Crossman. 1972. Freshwater Fisheries of Canada. Fisheries Research Board of Canada, Department of the Environment, Ottawa. p. 88. It was even stacked like cordwood and used to fuel . Once its value was realized, "They were taken by every available means from spearing and jigging to set lines of baited or unbaited hooks laid on the bottom to trap nets, pound nets and gillnets." Over 5 million lb were taken from Lake Erie in a single year. The fishery collapsed, largely by 1900. It has never recovered. Like most sturgeons, the lake sturgeon is rare now and is protected in many areas.
In addition to overharvesting, it has also been negatively affected by pollution and loss of migratory waterways. It is vulnerable to population declines through overfishing due to its extremely slow reproductive cycle; most individuals caught before 20 years of age have never bred and females spawn only once every four or five years. The specific harvesting of breeding females for their roe is also damaging to population size. Few individuals ever reach the extreme old age or large size that those of previous generations often did. WILL HAENNI (2 May 2021) Monster fish caught in Detroit River is one of the largest ever recorded by biologists 240 lb., 6'10".
The Little River Band of Ottawa Indians (LRBOI) Sturgeon Program began in 2001 in Manistee, MI. In 2002 they successfully documented natural reproduction of lake sturgeon by capturing larvae (newly hatched fish) from the Big Manistee River. The Streamside Rearing Facility for lake sturgeon on the Big Manistee River became operational in the spring of 2004 and marked the first time this technique had ever been used for this species. Since that time there have been five Streamside Rearing Facilitys operating within the Lake Michigan Basin built on the same LRBOI design. Many agencies now collaborate on this effort including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the states of Michigan and Wisconsin, and many other partners. The LRBOI Nmé Stewardship Plan, created by biologists and Tribal members, was published in 2005 as a guiding document for the LRBOI sturgeon program and sturgeon restoration. New York State has also had a successful recovery program, using eggs and sperm collected from a spawning area on the St. Lawrence River. In early June 2017, aquatic biologists conducted the annual assisted propagation effort, through which 130,000 fertilized eggs were sent to hatcheries.
Several populations of lake sturgeon have begun to be restored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in cooperation with locally managed fisheries from North Carolina to the Great Lakes. To better understand their life cycle, USFWS tags individual sturgeon and records abundance, distribution, age, growth and health of the population. While strict regulations have been put in place to monitor harvests, hatcheries are a key component of restoration efforts.
Wolf Lake State Fish Hatchery in Kalamazoo, MI, raises and releases lake sturgeon. The lake sturgeon are produced mainly for inland waters, although a few are stocked in Great Lakes waters.
There is also a streamside rearing facility near Onaway, Michigan, on the Black River, a tributary of the Cheboygan River, then Lake Huron. The facility is run and managed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Michigan State University, and Tower Kliber. Each year hundreds to thousands of sturgeon are raised and released into Black Lake, and other surrounding areas. Adult sturgeon are caught in the river, their eggs and sperm are extracted and then taken back to the hatchery for fertilization, and left to incubate. Hatched larvae are also caught in the river with drift nets. The hatchery is open to the public, and visitors can also watch the hatchery workers catch the fish.
Anglers in Minnesota have the opportunity to harvest one lake sturgeon per calendar year between 45 and 50 in on the Rainy River, and Lake of the Woods on the Canada–US border. The early season runs from April 24 to May 7 each year with the late season running from July 1 to September 30. Anglers must have a valid Minnesota fishing license and purchase a sturgeon tag to harvest a lake sturgeon.
An annual sturgeon spearing season is open on Lake Winnebago in Wisconsin. It has changed from a 16-day season in the past to a season with a marked quota, but the season can still run for the full 16 days. If 90–99% of the quota is reached on any day, the season is over at 1:00 pm the following day. If 100% (or more) of the quota is reached, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources can enable an emergency stoppage rule. In 2012, the largest sturgeon ever caught on Lake Winnebago (a female) was 125 years old, weighed 240 lb., and measured 87.5 in. in length. It was tagged and released by scientists from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
The sturgeon is also present in Quebec in the St. Lawrence River, where it is targeted by commercial fisheries. It is also a game fish with a harvest limit of one per day.
The fish was also a key economic factor among the Anishinaabe. In fact, members of this tribe living in the sturgeon-rich Winnipeg River watershed were known as "Sturgeon Indians" during the fur trade era. Devices used in fishing sturgeon included spear, weir, net, and less commonly hook and line.Holzkamm, Tim, and Leo Waisberg (2004) "Native American Utilization of Sturgeon," pp. 22–39 in Sturgeons and Paddlefish of North America. Edited by G.T.O LeBreton, F. William H. Beamish, and Scott R. McKinley. Kluwer Academic Publishers.
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