The white sturgeon Acipenser transmontanus also known as the Pacific sturgeon, Oregon sturgeon, Columbia sturgeon, Sacramento sturgeon, and California white sturgeon. It is the largest freshwater fish in North America and is the third largest species of sturgeon, after the Beluga and the Kaluga.
The white sturgeon has a slender, long body, head and mouth. This fish has no scales; instead it has large bony scutes that serve as a form of armor. A sturgeon's taste buds are located on the outside of its mouth. The underside is a clean white. It can smell food with four barbels, used for sensing food, near its huge toothless mouth.
White Sturgeon can live to be over 100 years old. White sturgeon in the Kootenai River are at such a low level that they were listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 1994.
In addition to overfishing, dams constructed along the Columbia and Snake Rivers have also become a threat to sturgeon.
Tribal fishery managers have experimented with spawning sturgeon artificially and raising sturgeon in hatcheries with the goal of releasing juvenile sturgeon in the upstream areas of the Columbia and Snake Rivers to help rebuild sturgeon populations in these areas. Initial results are promising.
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