How many Sturgeon in the Deerfield River

Endangered Shortnose Sturgeon in Deerfield River

The Shortnose sturgeon is the only federally endangered freshwater fish in New England. Harming or harassing a Shortnose sturgeon is punishable by a $20,000 fine so don't hassle them, just look. Shortnose sturgeon are one of the largest species of fish found in the river: large adults may approach 4 feet in length. They are easily identified by their shark-like (heterocercal) tail, long nose with four sensory barbels on the ventral surface and ventral, protrusible mouth. Sturgeons lack scales but have five rows of bony plate-like scutes extending along the body. As adults, they are toothless; they suck in prey items (usually invertebrates such as worms and freshwater mussels) and grind them up in a gizzard-like organ in their digestive system.

The Shortnose sturgeon is found from the St. John River in New Brunswick, Canada, to the St. Johns River in Florida. Most populations are considered anadromous. In an anadromous species, adults typically live in the ocean, but leave the ocean and migrate upstream into fresh water where they spawn. Then the adults either die or migrate back to the sea. Upon hatching, young anadromous fish drift down stream, eventually reaching the ocean where they remain until adulthood. Connecticut River Shortnose sturgeons are more correctly termed amphidromous. Amphidromous fishes utilize discrete habitats within a freshwater system for feeding and spawning. That is, they may feed in a lake, then migrate to feeder streams to spawn or they may feed in one area of a river and then migrate to a different section of the river to spawn.

Historically a single population of Shortnose sturgeon existed in the Connecticut River. Adults most likely spawned in the late spring near the confluence of the Deerfield River then moved downstream to foraging areas, usually mussel beds or sand bars near islands. Occasionally adults would migrate to the estuary at Long Island Sound. Here they would forage until some environmental cue triggered their spawning behavior. Those fish in spawning condition would undertake the fall migration upstream from the estuary back to their natal spawning grounds near the Deerfield. These adults would remain in the upper reach of the river through the winter and spawn the following spring.

SEEKING SIGHTINGS of Sturgeon on Deerfield River

Maybe I will see if I can do a bio project on this.