Laserfiche WebLink
Present Distribution and Abundance: <br />Pallid sturgeon remain one of the rarest fish of the Missouri and Mississippi <br />River basins. Carlson and Pflieger (1981) stated that pallid sturgeon are <br />rare, but widely distributed in the Missouri River and in the Mississippi <br />River downstream from the mouth of the Missouri River. Keenlyne (1989) <br />recently updated information on distribution of the pallid sturgeon. Keenlyne <br />reported pre -1980 catch records in the Mississippi River from its mouth <br />upstream to its confluence with the Missouri River, a length of 1,857 <br />kilometers (km) (1,154 miles (mi)); in the lower 56 km (35 mi) of the <br />Yazoo /Big Sunflower and St. Francis Rivers (tributaries to the Mississippi); <br />in the Missouri River from its mouth to Fort Benton, Montana, a length of <br />3,323 km (2,065 mi); and in the lower 64 km (40 mi) of the Kansas River, the <br />lower 34 km (21 mi) of the Platte River, and the lower 322 km (200 mi) of the <br />Yellowstone River (tributaries to the Missouri River). The total length of <br />the species' range is approximately 5,656 km (3,515 mi) of river. States <br />within this range are Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, <br />Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and <br />Louisiana. <br />Since 1980, reports of most frequent occurrence (Figure 3) are from the <br />Missouri River between the Marias River and Ft. Peck Reservoir in Montana; <br />between Ft. Peck Dam and Lake Sakakawea (near Williston, North Dakota); within <br />the lower 113 km (70 mi) of the Yellowstone River to downstream of Fallon, <br />Montana; in the headwaters of Lake Sharpe in South Dakota; and from the <br />Missouri River near the mouth of the Platte River near Plattsmouth, Nebraska. <br />Areas of most recent and frequent occurrence on the Mississippi River are near <br />Chester, Illinois; Caruthersville, Missouri; and in both the Mississippi and <br />Atchafalaya Rivers in Louisiana at the Old River Control where the Atchafalaya <br />diverges from the Mississippi River (Mark Dryer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife <br />Service, pers. comm.). <br />Larval sturgeon of any species rarely have been collected from within the <br />range of pallid sturgeon. This may be due to low reproductive success or the <br />inability of standard sampling gear to capture larval sturgeon. Hesse and <br />Mestl (1993a) collected two sturgeon larvae from the Missouri River adjacent <br />to Nebraska between 1983 and 1991 (the species of sturgeon is not yet <br />distinguishable at larval stages). These larvae were among 147,000 fish <br />larvae collected during filtration of 519,400 cubic meters of river water. <br />Gardner and Stewart (1987) collected no sturgeon larvae in 339 samples from <br />the Missouri River or in 77 samples from tributary streams where 3,124 and <br />5,526 fish larvae were collected, respectively. <br />Habitat Preference: <br />Forbes and Richardson (1905), Schmulbach et al. (1975), Kallemeyn (1983), and <br />Gilbraith et al. (1988) describe pallid sturgeon as being a fish well adapted <br />to life on the bottom in swift waters of large, turbid, free - flowing rivers. <br />61 <br />