White shovel sturgeon
| White shovel sturgeon | ||||||||||||
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White shovel sturgeon |
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| Scaphirhynchus albus | ||||||||||||
| ( Forbes & Richardson , 1905) |
The White Shovelnose ( Scaphirhynchus albus ) is a highly endangered species from the family of sturgeons (Acipenseridae). It is endemic to the Missouri River and the lower Mississippi .
features
The sturgeon species is very similar to the shovel sturgeon ( Scaphirhynchus platorynchus ), but is much larger with a length of 76 to 152 centimeters and a weight of 39 kilograms. Its stomach is not armored with scaly plates of bone. The bases of the outer barbels usually lie behind the bases of the inner barbels. The white shovel sturgeon is sexually mature at the latest by the age of 15 and can reach an age of up to 100 years.
Danger
In 1990 the US Fish and Wildlife Service classified the fish as endangered, and it is also on the IUCN's Red List of Endangered Species . In the last decade only a few young animals could be observed, and the numbers in the wild continued to decline. It is one of the first fish species to be classified as endangered in the Mississippi Basin. The straightening and damming of the Mississippi has led to a reduction in gravel deposits and a slower flow rate of the tributaries, which are among the preferred spawning sites for fish. The white shovel sturgeon was a popular catch among anglers until the middle of the 20th century. It is considered tasty and its eggs have been used as caviar , albeit less frequently than other sturgeon species.
Efforts to save the species from extinction have so far only met with moderate success. Year after year, young fish are raised in fish farms and then released into the wild. In order to better understand the behavior of the white shovel sturgeon, some are provided with radio transmitters , with the help of which their migration behavior can be tracked and possible spawning sites can be found.
The shovel sturgeon ( Scaphirhynchus platorynchus ) and the white shovel sturgeon are parasitized by the Missouri River sturgeon iridovirus (MRSIV).
Web links
- Scaphirhynchus albus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2004. Posted by: Krentz, S., 2004. Retrieved on December 18, 2013 ..
- White shovel sturgeon on Fishbase.org (English)
- Scaphirhynchus albus in the Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS)
- Project to reintroduce the Middle Mississippi (english)
Individual evidence
- ^ Pallid Sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus). Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, archived from the original on December 19, 2013 ; accessed on December 18, 2013 .
- ↑ White shovel sturgeon on Fishbase.org (English)
- ↑ KD Keenlyne, LG Jenkins: Age at Sexual Maturity of the Pallid Sturgeon Archived from the original on July 2, 2012. (pdf) In: American Fisheries Society (ed.): Transactions of the American Fisheries Society . 122, No. 3, May 1993, pp. 393-396. doi : 10.1577 / 1548-8659 (1993) 122 <0393: AASMOT> 2.3.CO; 2 . Retrieved December 18, 2013.
- ↑ Abnormal Cells found in Pallid Sturgeon at Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery Prohibit Stocking these Fish in the Wild. US Fish and Wildlife Service, September 26, 2007, accessed December 18, 2013 .
- ↑ Threatened and Endangered Species: Pallid Sturgeon Scaphirhynchus Factsheet. Montana NRCS, archived from the original on October 28, 2003 ; accessed on December 18, 2013 .
- ^ Committee on Endangered and Threatened Species in the Platte River Basin: Endangered and Threatened Species of the Platte River . The National Academies Press, Washington, DC 2004, ISBN 978-0-309-09230-2 , pp. 225-239.