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Animal profile

Lake Sturgeon

Acipenser fulvescens

ActinopterygiiLarge lakes and rivers with sand, gravel or mud bottomsLeast Concern

Field profile

The lake sturgeon is a bottom-feeding North American sturgeon with four barbels ahead of a protrusible, toothless mouth. It vacuums invertebrates from the sediment and can live for many decades. Adults commonly reach one to two metres.

Scope note

This is an editorial profile, not a diagnostic field-identification guide or a substitute for current conservation assessments. Follow the cited sources on each fact for the evidence trail.

Published field notes

2024-06-16

Lake Sturgeon

Lake sturgeon can outlive the people studying them

Lake sturgeon are among the longest-lived freshwater fishes in North America. Females have been aged past 100 years, and because they do not spawn every year a single fish may reproduce only a few dozen times in a century-long life.

Read with evidence →

Lake Sturgeon | Daily Animal Facts