The Near- Extinction of Lake Sturgeon in Tennessee

By : Audrey Culler

Lake Sturgeon hatchlings at the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute photographed by Audrey Culler

Lake Sturgeon hatchlings at the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute Photographed by Audrey Culler

“Sturgeon are among the most ancient living fish on the planet. As a group they both predated and outlived many dinosaur species, including Tyrannosaurus rex,” reports Knox News in an article about Tennessee’s iconic Lake Sturgeon. Although the fish survived many eras, periods, and centuries, they almost didn’t survive humans.

Lake Sturgeon— which can grow upwards of 20 feet and are capable of living to 100 years old— are widely sought out for their flesh and caviar. Around the 1970’s, overfishing and killing of these fish in rivers and lakes such as the St. Lawrence, the Hudson Bay, the Great Lakes, the Mississippi River and its Basin, and the Coosa River Watersheds caused their population to decline rapidly, leaving them vulnerable to extinction.

Though regarded as “trash fish” previously, (due to their once high population) Lake Sturgeon are an important and essential part of the lakes and rivers they habitate— and are among the few species that can consume invasive Quagga and Zebra Mussels. Because of this, when the amount of Lake Sturgeon in the Mississippi River and its basin were found to have dropped to concerning levels, people jumped into action.

Thanks to the Lake Sturgeon Restoration Project, started by the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute in 2000, Lake Sturgeon will make a comeback. Mike Organ, a writer on the Tennesseean, says “Many of the thousands of six- to eight-inch sturgeon fingerlings the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency have released annually into the two rivers have done well and have the potential to provide the state with a new species of large fish.” While this development is amazing, it’ll take some time before Lake Sturgeon can thrive in these rivers again due to the reproduction rate and small amount of surviving Lake Sturgeon currently in the wild.

The bodies of water that Lake Sturgeon live in

Mississippi River

The Great Lakes

The Great Lakes Cont.

St. Lawrence River

Hudson Bay

Coosa River

An article by Knox News examining the start of the Lake Sturgeon restoration project says “The project began as a little experiment. Matthews and a colleague of his, the now-retired Charlie Saylor, discussed releasing sturgeon in 1992. They got a hold of 3,500 fertilized eggs and released hatchlings into the river. Years later when they started to actually see young sturgeon, they realized that a coordinated effort might be able to bring back the ancient fish.” One thoroughly thought out plan and twenty-four years later, they will finally start seeing the product of these endeavors.

Since 1992, the Lake Sturgeon population has grown by more than 150,000. The first ones, released in 2000, are now reaching sexual maturity

and will begin to reproduce this year. If the restoration project is entirely successful, the ancient fish will become self-sufficient and will be taken off of the endangered list.

From dinosaurs to the ice age to humanity to now, Lake Sturgeon have proven capable and resilient. This will be merely a blip in the grand scheme of their long reign of North America’s lakes and rivers. We can only hope, but I’d say things may just be looking up for the fish down on luck.

Photos of Lake Sturgeon hatchlings and their habitat taken by Audrey Culler

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