Hudson River Atlantic Sturgeon: Studying the River's Largest Fish
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation sent this bulletin on 06/21/2022 10:40 AM EDT![]() |
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Hudson RiverNet
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Atlantic sturgeon may live more than 60 years, reaching a weight of 800 pounds and a length of fourteen feet. They are armored with bony plates, evidence of a lineage extending back to the age of dinosaurs. Sturgeon are bottom feeders, using whisker-like barbels on the underside of their snouts to find food - chiefly worms, insects, crustaceans, and small fish - that are sucked up in their tube-like mouths.
PIT tags can be scanned to help learn more about sturgeon movement and behavior while in the Hudson, helping scientists learn what areas they use while in the river and how often they spawn. The tags also can be scanned and detected by other scientists in other rivers along the east coast. Atlantic sturgeon migrate as far south as Georgia and as far north as Canada's Bay of Fundy, so the tags give scientists clues about where sturgeon migrate from place to place. The Hudson River currently supports the largest population of Atlantic sturgeon along the Atlantic Coast, estimated to be between 1,000 and 1,500 fish. Find out what it's like to go out with the fisheries crew while they work to study Atlantic sturgeon by watching DEC's Facebook Live post from the Hudson River on June 1. |