Lake Sturgeon in the Grand River
Did you know that there is a six-foot fish lurking in the Grand River? Yes its true! The Lake Sturgeon is a species of fish that can reach over 5 feet in length, 150 pounds, and over 100 years old! Though a large fish, they pose no threat to humans. They are bottom feeders at eat aquatic insects, crayfish, leeches, and fish eggs. Sadly, this fish is quite rare in most of its historic range having suffered from overfishing in the early 1900s. In 1994, Lake Sturgeon were listed as threatened in the state of Michigan giving them some legal protections. Lake Sturgeon, living up to their name, spend most of their lives in the Great Lakes and enter rivers in the spring to spawn and returning to the lakes after spawning is completed. Eggs are laid and develop into larval fish which drift with the current until they are big enough to swim. Young sturgeon spends about 8 months in the river before returning to the Great Lakes to grow where they mature for up to 25 years before returning to spawn.
The Grand River hosts a population of these amazing fish. The exact size of the population is unknown but estimated to be about 100 individuals. Adult lake sturgeon can sometimes be seen in the shallows around Grand Rapids in the spring and are sometimes caught by accident by anglers fishing for Steelhead in the spring. It should be noted that it is illegal to fish for Lake Sturgeon in the Grand River and any accidental catches must be released immediately.
LGROW staff have been assisting staff from the Grand Rapids Public Museum and John Ball Zoo, both hold permits to sample and handle sturgeon, with surveying for juvenile sturgeon to document evidence of reproduction in the Grand River. To date six juvenile sturgeon have been captured and tagged and a few additional have been seen but evaded capture. The tagged individuals allow scientists to ID this fish in the future incase it is ever captured again. Genetic samples are also being collected to get a better understanding of the population size in the Grand River