Talk:Atlantic sturgeon

Article Created

First edition, made in a bit of a hurry. I'll be adding a taxobox, picture, links, etc. in the near future. Also, my first article.

--OverlordChris 01:50, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

Leaping

Let's discuss and make the article better. Are the 'Gulf Sturgeon' the only Atlantic Sturgeon to leap? The NYTimes article mentions Gulf Sturgeon specifically as User:GRBerry noted - and the MD fisheries article don't so specify. Honest thanks. -- User:RyanFreisling @ 03:24, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

The gulf aren't the only sturgeon to leap, but they do appear to be more regular about it, and do it more when people are around, than other species I've read up on. I recall seeing a source that most sturgeon species jump. I know, from reading the Burroughs, Frank source cited herein, that the Shortnose and Atlantic both do occasionally jump, but not regularly - the author of that book has never seen an Atlantic jump despite spending significant amounts of time in the habitat of one (two? scientists unsure) of the larger remaining populations. The Gulf jump frequently, at predictable times, in predictable places. The injuries in the case of the Gulf appear primarily to relate to boaters on high speed boats who either 1) run into the sturgeon at about 30 mph or 2) lose control of the boat trying to dodge (1 boater killed just this week).

Given the location and reported size, the MD source would almost definitely be discussing the Atlantic. Gulf are found only in the Gulf of Mexico and rivers entering it. Shortnose, which would also be in the Potomoac, don't grow anywhere near that big. There is some possibility that it might have been a European sea sturgeon, but I think that is confusion either by our editors (assertion of occuring in American waters appears unsourced) or of historical sources, which used the phrase "common sturgeon" in the official fisheries statistics for all anadromonous or amphidromous sturgeon landed in the U.S. GRBerry 03:46, 28 September 2007 (UTC)