]The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) stocked 875 pallid sturgeons in the Missouri River below Fort Randall Dam near Running Water, South Dakota, this week. The fish, averaging 12?13 inches in length, were spawned and reared at the Service's Gavins Point National Fish hatchery near Yankton, South Dakota. Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery is unique in that it is the only facility in the nation that maintains all of the future broodstock broodstock
The reproductively mature adults in a population that breed (or spawn) and produce more individuals (offspring or progeny).
Learn more about broodstock for the continuation of the recovery of the pallid sturgeon.
The endangered pallid sturgeon is an ancient fish that can grow up to 6 feet long and weigh 85 pounds, with a lifespan of up to 100 years. Dam construction, habitat alterations, and over-fishing are major causes of the pallid sturgeons decline in the past 50 years. Historically, this fish was found in the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers and their major tributaries. Currently, it is found only in the Missouri River, the Mississippi River downstream of the Missouri River, the lower Yellowstone River, and Atchafalaya River. Current range-wide populations are estimated at 6,000-10,000.
Since 1994, over 100,000 pallid sturgeons have been stocked in the waters of Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Louisiana. Without these efforts, biologists estimate this species would have been extirpated in several parts of the range within the next 5-10 years. Although this stocking effort alone will not recover the species, it is an important step in preserving the pallid sturgeon until habitat improvements can be made that will allow the species to reproduce successfully in the wild. Stocking also provides research opportunities to better understand this ancient species, and allows the public an opportunity to view a fish, known as the 'swimming dinosaur," that few will ever get a chance to see.
- FWS -
For more information about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
align=left>visit our home page at http://www.fws.gov
Visit the Mountain Prairie website at: http://mountain-prairie.fws.gov
