Pallid Sturgeon

Searching for the Elusive Pallid Sturgeon, A Pre-historic Treasure

Pallid Sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) were listed as an endangered species in 1990. The Service worked with states and other partners to complete a project in the middle basin of the Mississippi River and the lower Missouri River resulting in biological data collected from seven wild pallid sturgeon.

The Middle Basin Pallid Sturgeon Recovery Work Group was developed to evaluate and prioritize research and recovery goals. In addition, the first stage of a three-year cooperative project between biologists from Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Service was completed on the Missouri River with data from eight young-of-the-year sturgeon collected.

The Service is now raising and stocking pallid sturgeon to help recover this endangered fish. Most recently, as part of the restoration plan, 165 hatchery-raised pallid sturgeon were stocked in the Missouri River.

Neosho, MO National Fish Hatchery and Columbia Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office, MO teamed up with the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Army Corps of Engineers to release pallid sturgeon into the Missouri River at various locations. The sturgeon were raised at Neosho National Fish Hatchery. Each sturgeon was marked with individually coded tags so biologists can identify individual fish and collect information on movement, distribution, abundance, survival, life history and habitat use. Several state and federal hatcheries in Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota, Louisiana, and Missouri are raising pallid sturgeon.

For more information download: Pallid Sturgeon Brochure (pdf-118Kb)

Pallid Sturgeon Fact Sheet

Missouri River Pallid Sturgeon Fact Sheet- Status: Endangered (pdf-60Kb)

Columbia Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office, MO has been monitoring pallid sturgeon in the Lower Missouri River with gillnets. The office has worked with the US Geological Survey (USGS) - Columbia Environmental Research Center to surgically implant sonic transmitters into some sturgeon to provide information for a USGS project.

For more information on the Pallid Sturgeon view the Endangered Species Fact Sheet or Species Profile.