EFFECTS OF HYDRAULIC DREDGING AND VESSEL OPERATION ON ATLANTIC STURGEON BEHAVIOR IN A LARGE COASTAL RIVER Michael R. Barber, B.S. A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Biology at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2017. Major Advisor: Dr. Greg Garman, Director of Rice Rivers Center, Center for Enviro...

Abstract The eastern part of the Black Sea and its tributaries are suitable habitats for several sturgeon species, among which Acipenser gueldenstaedtii , A. stellatus nudiventris persicus sturio H. huso well documented. However, different threats have led these species to a dramatic decline, all them currently listed as Critically Endangered some Locally Extinct in that area. We tested 94 wild...

—Because white sturgeon Acipenser transmontanus show no readily discernible external signs of gender, management agencies use surgical biopsies to determine the sex and stage of gonadal maturity of individuals. This procedure is highly invasive and can be difficult under field conditions. Therefore, gonadal tissue and blood were collected from white sturgeon captured in tribal and commercial fi...

Sturgeons (family Acipenseridae) are valuable commercial fish and aquaculture resources. The Acipenser genus includes about 20 species, 12 of which recorded for the Russian territory. One rarest is Sakhalin sturgeon A. mikadoi Hilgendorf, 1892. At present, its population size significantly decreased species close to extinction. Natural populations have survived in Tumnin River Khabarovsk Region...

The response to a panel of steroids by the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) from Amur sturgeon and tropical gar, two basal ray-finned fish, expressed in HEK293 cells was investigated. Half-maximal responses (EC50s) for transcriptional activation of sturgeon MR by 11-deoxycorticosterone, corticosterone, 11-deoxycortisol, cortisol and aldosterone, and progesterone (Prog) were between 13 and 150 pM...

In Poland the conservation program of Atlantic sturgeon Acipenser oxyrinchus is conducted during over 10 years by Inland Fisheries Institute in Olsztyn, Poland. Material of A. oxyrinchus is annually transported from Canada to Poland and the broodstock of this species is created. Part of imported fish material is breed and released into local rivers e.g. Drweca River, Vistula River. All the impo...

The most utilized method to measure swimming performance of fishes has been the critical swimming speed (UCrit) test. In this test, the fish is forced to swim against an incrementally increasing flow of water until fatigue. Before the water velocity is increased, the fish swims at the water velocity for a specific, pre-arranged time interval. The magnitude of the velocity increments and the tim...

Temperature and selenium are two environmental parameters that potentially affect reproduction and stock recruitment of sturgeon in the San Francisco Bay/Delta Estuary. To identify proteins whose expression is modified by these environmental stressors, we performed a proteomic analysis on larval green and white sturgeons exposed to 18 or 26 degrees C and micro-injected with Seleno-L-Methionine ...