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SHORTNOSE STURGEON Acipenser brevirostrum (Lesueur, 1818) Order: ACIPENSERIFORMES Family: ACIPENSERIDAE Distinguishing characteristics: A small species of sturgeon (seldom exceeding three feet in length) , mouth wide (its width over 62 percent of interorbital width) , viscera blackish, adults with short snout, scutes prominent, one row of preanal scutes. Present distribution: All recent U . S . records are from the Hudson River except one Florida specimen . Former distribution: Atlantic seaboard rivers from New Brunswick to Florida, including the Hudson, Delaware, Potomac, Connecticut, Salmon Creek (North Carolina) and St. Johns River watershed (Florida) . There have been a few records in salt water (New Jersey) . Status: In peril. The species is gone in most of the rivers of its former range. Is probably not as yet extinct. Estimated numbers: There are no recent records . Fecundity: The spawning habits have not been well studied. In the Hudson River spawning fish have been taken in late April. Reasons for decline: Pollution is probably the major factor. Overfishing has also been likely since this species has been intensively fished on spawning areas , also has been taken in shad gill nets over a wide area of the Hudson and other rivers . Protective measures already taken: Other than some routine regulations such as 20-inch size limit, no protective measures seem to have been taken. Measures proposed: A survey of the current status of the species would be basic to the development of a plan. Locating the spawning areas would be a key point to the development of effective protection. Number in captivity: No data, probably none . Culture potential in captivity: Probably not possible to culture in captivity. It might be possible to propagate from fertilized eggs obtained from wild specimens . Remarks: Data submitted by the New York Conservation Department, Division of Fish and Game. References: Jordan, D . S . and B . W . Evermann . 1902. American food and game fish . Doubleday, Page & Co . , N. Y . , 572 . Vladykov, V . D . and J . R . Greeley . Order Acipenseroidei in fishes of the western north Atlantic, Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine- Research I(3), 1963:24-60.