The Alabama Sturgeon

The Alabama Sturgeon

Critically Endangered

Description and Habitat

• The Alabama Sturgeon is native to the United States and lives in the lower part of the Cahaba River and it is a distinctive yellowish orange color. They reach up to about 30 inches in length and weigh up to about 2 to 3 pounds and they have a lifespan of about 12 to 20 years.

• The red indicates where the Alabama Sturgeon used to occur, but are now extinct and the yellow indicates where they still occur. 

Role in the Ecosystem

• The Alabama Sturgeon is a benthivore meaning they feed on smaller fish on the bottom of the river. If the Alabama Sturgeon goes extinct certain population of bottom dwelling fish to have an unwanted increase in population size. 

Cause of Decline

• The biggest threats to the Alabama Sturgeon is overfishing, loss of habitat due to navigation related development, and degradation of the water quality due to pollution and runoff.

Current Conservation Efforts

• State and federal agencies have made up a conservation agreement that consists of three main parts which are captive breeding programs, genetic conservation, and they are protecting what habitat they have left. They are breeding the Alabama Sturgeon and releasing them back into the wild, but it does not seem to be enough. They are also protecting the Sturgeon's habitat by setting laws against further destruction of it.