8094

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 8094
• Author: Dryer, M. P. and A. J. Sandvol.
• Title: Recovery Plan for the Pallid Sturgeon ‎(
• USFW Year: 1993.
• Copyright Material: NO

Bailey and Cross (1954) measured morphological characteristics of pallid
sturgeon collected from the middle and lower Missouri River and middle
Mississippi River. They found the ratio between the lengths of the inner and
outer barbels of pallid sturgeon and shovelnose sturgeon to be one of the
quickest and most reliable means for separation of these two Scaphirhynchus
species: the outer barbel is 1.2-1.5 times longer than the inner barbel in
the shovelnose and 1.7 to 2.4 times longer in the pallid. Bailey and Cross
(1954) also found that the inner barbels of pallid sturgeon typically lie
ahead of the outer barbels, unlike on shovelnose sturgeon,-where they are
typically in-line. Furthermore, in pallid sturgeon, all the barbels are
further-back on the lower surface of the snout than in shovelnose sturgeon:
the "snout tip to outer barbel/mouth to inner barbel" ratio varies from 2.3 to
3.3 in pallid sturgeon and 1.3 to 2.2 in shovelnose sturgeon (Bailey and Cross
1954) (Figure 1).
/A ~ 1.3-2.2 A - 23-3.3
B in C E -1.1-1.4 Bin ~ E -1.6-20
F ~ 4.0-5.0 F ~ 5.5-7.0
A ~ 1.3-2.5 / A ~ 2.6.7
Shovelnose C in ~ D ~ 1.2-1.5 C ht C D - 1,7-2.4 PaQid
Stw~eon - F ~ 3.6-5.8 \ F ~ 6.3;8.0 ~~n
~ ~:1
~~hS,~,; :d: n' ''
i r .ti ,i ..`~~;`~yi~ t
~I..~.~.~Lri,.j ~r ,., :1:" .
.., ~ •.i is •. •,~ ,
'' .:~ L`
. "!nip .~ ~~
Figure 1: Comparative diagrams of the ventral surface of the head of
shovelnose sturgeon and pallid sturgeon, showing several measurement
ratios of value for identification. Redrawn from Bailey and Cross
(1954).
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