Atlantic and shortnose sturgeons are highly valued for their eggs (caviar) and flesh, but stocks of both species are depleted. The shortnose sturgeon is listed as an endangered species, and a long-term (multidecade) moratorium on fishing for Atlantic sturgeon is specified in the recently updated fishery management plan of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. Thus, identification, pr...

The purpose of this study has been to carry out a preliminary parasitological analysis of sturgeon specimens in the context of the presence of external parasites, and to determine their possible influence on the health of the fish. The examination of external parasites was performed on specimens of A. oxyrinchus oxyrinchus captured from an open system pond (the Fish Farm in Kuźniczka, Poland) a...

Challenges and regulations associated with handling fish during fisheries management activities have increased efforts to achieve U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for an immediate-release sedative for fish. The objectives of this study were to (1) identify the target concentration of AQUI-S 20E for sedation of Pallid Sturgeon Scaphirhynchus albus to a handleable state followed by rapi...

A high resolution three-dimensional numerical model, COCIRM, was adapted and optimized to predict the potential impact of the Waneta Expansion Project (WEP) on the flow conditions at the confluence of the Columbia and Pend d’Oreille rivers. Flows in this confluence area represent important habitat features for white sturgeon, including the well-developed low-speed Waneta Eddy for sturgeon reari...

The objective of this study is to provide information on metabolic changes occurring in Chinese sturgeon (an ecologically important endangered fish) subjected to repeated cycles of fatigue and recovery and the effect on swimming capability. Fatigue-recovery cycles likely occur when fish are moving through the fishways of large dams and the results of this investigation are important for fishway...

During teleost ontogeny the larval and embryonic stages are key stages, since failure during this period of tissue differentiation may cause malformations, developmental delays, poor growth, and massive mortalities. Despite the rapid advances in sequencing technologies, the molecular backgrounds of the development of economically important but endangered fish species like the Atlantic sturgeon ...

The in vitro effect of 17α, 20β-Dihydroxyprogesterone on the maturation of Persian sturgeon (Acipenser persicus) oocytes for 7, 10, 12, 24 and 30th hours of incubation were investigated. Blood serum, testosterone (T), progesterone (P4) and 17-β estradiol concentrations were measured using enzyme-linked immuno-sorbent assay (ELISA). The oocytes were incubated in SIS, RM2, L-15 and PSACF media in...

—During November 2002, 51 shovelnose sturgeon Scaphirhynchus platorynchus were sexed by ultrasound imaging using a portable ultrasonograph. We identified males with 96% accuracy (N 5 25) and females with 80% accuracy (N 5 25); one hermaphroditic individual was misidentified as a male. Overall, ultrasound imaging was 86% accurate. Sex in postspawned females was difficult to determine, 60% being ...

The aim of this study was to provide comprehensive insights into the genetic background of sturgeon by transcriptome study. We performed a de novo assembly of the Amur sturgeon Acipenser schrenckii transcriptome using Illumina Hiseq 2000 sequencing. A total of 148,817 non-redundant unigenes with base length of approximately 121,698,536 bp and ranges from 201 to 26,789 bp were obtained. All the ...

Little is known regarding molecular mechanisms involved in sex determination and differentiation in sturgeon species. We addressed this knowledge gap by using next generation pyrosequencing technology to provide transcript libraries and species-specific sequences for mature gonads of shovelnose sturgeon, Scaphirhynchus platorynchus. We then mined these libraries to identify gender-specific tran...