Shovelnose sturgeon spend much of their lives in swift-moving water at the bottom of large rivers. “The biggest fish we caught was 32 inches in total length the tail was about 8 inches long and, at the end, was smaller than my pinkie finger.” A large shovelnose weighs only 2 or 3 pounds,” Johnston said. But shovelnose sturgeon are really petite. “When you think of sturgeon, you typically think of a big fish. Shovelnose Sturgeon: A Living “Pool Cleaner” With hopes of writing the first chapter of Oklahoma’s shovelnose sturgeon story, Johnston would end up catching and tracking at least 25 of the rare fish. The cold swim and the handful of fish kicked off a four-year project that aimed to increase knowledge about Oklahoma’s sturgeon population and what those fish need to survive in our state. But we knew where four or five shovelnose had congregated,” Johnston said. The water temperature was only a degree above freezing. With a flattened head, sturgeon are well-adapted for life at the bottom of prairie rivers.Īs motorists were crossing the Arkansas River on Tulsa’s busy Interstate 44 bridge, Johnston and two other biologists were nearby in dry suits, catching shovelnose sturgeon by hand.
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