Ontario-Great Lakes Area Fact Sheets

Lake Sturgeon

General Description

The lake sturgeon is a member of the sturgeon family of fishes and has the following characteristics:

• a heavy, torpedo-shaped body with a very tough skin and prominent rows of bony plates or shields;
• a large, ventral, suctorial mouth and 4 barbels in front of it;
• the back and sides are olive-brown to grey and the underside is white;
• the dorsal and lateral shields are the same colour as the body; and
• the fins are dark brown or grey with the single, dorsal fin far back near the caudal fin.

Distribution

The lake sturgeon is native to large rivers and lakes in North America. In Canada, it is found from Hudson - James Bay as far north as Fort George River on the east and Seal River on the west; areas of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba; all of the Hudson Bay and Great Lakes drainages of Ontario, including all the Great Lakes; and, east to the end of freshwater in the St. Lawrence River.

Habitat and Life History

The lake sturgeon is a cold-water species found usually in shoal areas of large lakes and rivers. They are bottom dwellers, adapted to feeding on the mud or gravel and mud bottom. They spawn from early May to late June and migrate to the spawning rivers after the ice melts. Spawning migrations out of lakes and up rivers to suitable grounds are often as long as 128 km (80 miles). They spawn in depths of 61 - 457 cm (2 - 15 feet) and in areas of swift water or rapids, often even at the foot of low falls that prevent further migration. The spawning fish are quite active and have been observed to leap out of the water. The adhesive eggs are scattered and adhere to rocks and logs and hatch in 5 - 8 days. Other than spawning migrations, seasonal movements of the lake sturgeon are thought to consist of a move from shallow waters when these warm, into deeper water, a return to the shoals in fall, and a return to moderate depths in winter.

Food Habits

Lake sturgeons feed almost exclusively on small organisms they obtain from the bottom by means of the protrusible, tube-like mouth and the sensory barbels. They are omnivorous (i.e. feeding on both animals and plants) and virtually anything edible that enters the mouth is sucked up and consumed.

Economic Importance

Prior to 1860, the lake sturgeon was considered a nuisance and was either killed and dumped back in the lake, piled up on shore to dry to be burned (e.g. boilers of steamboats), or fed to pigs. Since then, the intense, indiscriminate fishery, and the effects of dams and pollution on the opportunity and the ability of the species to reproduce, have all contributed to the present low levels of populations of lake sturgeons.

Lake sturgeon is now a gourmet item: the flesh, especially when smoked, is delicious although rich and oily, and the eggs are marketed as caviar. Usually eggs of the lake sturgeon command a higher price than those of other North American sturgeon.

Fishing Facts

Through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), international trade of lake sturgeon is restricted.

Further Information

For further information, please contact your local DFO office: http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/oceans-habitat/habitat/aboutus-apropos/regions/arctic-arctique_e.asp?#1