The lake sturgeon has a sharp, cone-shaped snout with four smooth barbels on its underside.

Four species may now be extinct.

These large fish live in freshwater systems, usually lakes, ponds, and rivers. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the Late Cretaceous, and are descended from other, earlier acipenseriform fish who date back to the Triassic period some 245 to 208 million years ago. Lake Sturgeon, sometimes called a living dinosaur of the fish world, are a remnant of an ancient and primitive group of fish that have cartilaginous skeletons and bony plates in their skin. The lake sturgeon is one of New York's largest freshwater fish. Sturgeon is the common name for the 27 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. Two closely related species, Polyodon spathula (American paddlefish) and Psephurus gla… It’s not unusual to find one six feet long and 200 pounds. They usually forage along the bottom of water bodies, or benthic regions. Its mouth is large and there are two smooth lobes on the low…

Sturgeon, any of about 29 species of fishes of the family Acipenseridae (subclass Chondrostei), native to temperate waters of the Northern Hemisphere.

These fish can live for decades.

Lake sturgeon are the only sturgeon species endemic to the Great Lakes basin and are the largest freshwater fish indigenous to that system.

Lake sturgeon migrate to shores of freshwater lakes in early summer for spawning.

Lake sturgeon can be considered a nearshore, warmwater species with water temperature and depth preferences of low 50s to mid-60 o F and 15-30 feet, respectively.

Fish are rarely found in its diet and are likely incidental items only, with the possible exception of the invasive round goby.

Generally, these fish prefer sand and gravel substrates when breeding, and mud or silt bottoms to search for food. Primitive in appearance, the lake sturgeon has a torpedo-shaped body that is covered with five rows of bony plates: one on top and two rows along each side. Female lay anywhere from two to three million eggs per season. Lake Sturgeon are one of three species of sturgeon that live exclusively in freshwater, the other two species are Shovel Nosed Sturgeon (found in Minnesota) and Pallid Sturgeon (Federally listed as an endangered species, not found in Minnesota). Its diet consists of insect larvae, worms (including leeches), and other small organisms (primarily metazoan) it finds in the mud. The family is grouped into four genera: Acipenser, Huso, Scaphirhynchus and Pseudoscaphirhynchus. Sturgeon may not begin spawning until they are 15 to 25 years old, and only spawn every four years on average. Given that it is a large species surviving by feeding on very small species, its feedin…


Mature adults average between 3-5 feet in length and 10-80 pounds in weight, but can occasionally grow as large as 7+ feet and 300+ pounds.
The lake sturgeon has taste buds on and around its barbels near its rubbery, prehensile lips.

Several species provide caviar from eggs. Lake sturgeons can grow huge. Habitat of the Lake Sturgeon. The lake sturgeon is the oldest and largest native fish species in North America’s Great Lakes.

Most species live in the ocean and ascend rivers to spawn in spring or summer; a few others are confined to fresh water. Distribution of the Lake Sturgeon It extends its lips to vacuum up soft live food, which it swallows whole due to its lack of teeth.