Wildlife officials announced the discovery of a sturgeon that traveled a record 651 miles down the Mississippi River system.
A lake sturgeon with a Wisconsin tag was recently spotted at the Lock 26 Dam on the Mississippi River near Alton, Illinois, according to an April 22 Facebook post from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
“Our biologists confirmed that this sturgeon was initially tagged on the Chippewa River and swam at least 651 miles from Jim Falls,” DNR officials said. “That impressive journey is the longest-known distance a Chippewa River lake sturgeon has traveled!”
Officials said the sturgeon was initially tagged at least 10 years ago and possibly as long as 25 years ago, but more precise date and location information was unavailable.
Lake sturgeon can live to be 100 years old — with females reaching 150 — and are known to travel great distances, migrating “300 miles or more throughout contiguous bodies of water,” according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
No federal protections for lake sturgeon
The species itself is about 100 million years old, emerging around the time the dinosaurs went extinct, according to Wisconsin officials.
Despite their longevity, overharvesting and habitat degradation have significantly reduced sturgeon populations around the world, including in the Midwestern United States.
However, on Monday, April 22, federal wildlife officials announced that lake sturgeon don’t need Endangered Species Act protections, citing the success of stocking efforts.
The decision ends the Center for Biological Diversity’s 2018 petition to list lake sturgeon as an endangered or threatened species.
Sturgeon spearing seasons in Wisconsin and Michigan will continue as a result.
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