The Shortnose Sturgeon - Hudson's own Endangered Fish

Sturgeon are among the world's most primitive fish, looking very like their Cretaceous ancestors of 100 million years ago.

In one season or another, the Shortnose Sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum) is found in all its life stages in the deepest waters off the City of Hudson.

North America's smallest sturgeon, this species can reach a maximum length of 4.7 feet and 50.7 pounds, though it generally doesn't exceed 3.5 feet. Females live longest, sometimes well into their 60s.

Never plentiful, in the 19th century the Shortnose Sturgeon was described as "not uncommon" in the Hudson River. In the 20th century, however, heavy fishing would take a toll on the "roundnosers" or "pinksters," so called by the rivermen. (It's likely the sturgeon's bony plates or "scutes" are preserved beneath Furgary, the North Bay site of a 19th century fish market.)

Today the Shortnose Sturgeon is a federally Endangered species; harming or harassing them is punishable by a $20,000 fine.

Toxins in the river inevitably find their way to the benthos, the deepest-lying community in which all sturgeon are found. With their long life-spans, sturgeon are predisposed to long-term contaminant exposure.

As with other Hudson River species, sturgeon are contaminated with PCBs, with the highest concentrations in the brain and gonadal tissues. Other contaminants such as toxic metals lead to growth retardation, reproductive impairment, and lesions. The Shortnose Sturgeon is particularly susceptible to fin rot.

Early life stages are generally more susceptible to pollutant stresses than older ones. A 1993 study found that byproducts of the 19th century coal distillation and gasification process are particularly toxic to Shortnose Sturgeon embryos and larvae. When considering the cumulative negative impacts on sturgeon from the City of Hudson, the coal tars which continue to seep from sediments at the city's waterfront are significant.

Like many Hudson River fish, the Shortnose Sturgeon is migratory, using the entire estuary during its life cycle. Spawning takes place between Coxsackie and the Troy dam in the last two weeks of April and the first two weeks of May.

Eggs take 10-13 days to hatch, and in another 8-12 days the larval sturgeon absorb their yolk sacs. At this point, larvae increasingly drift with the strong current in the deepest river channel and disperse downstream through summer.

Consistent with this pattern, a 1979 population study by W.L. Dovel captured larval Shortnose Sturgeon off the City of Hudson and older first-year young off Germantown.

Figuring the river's progress on its way to the ocean, dates to expect large numbers of larvae in Hudson from spawning grounds to the north range from late-May to July.

When the larvae reach Hudson, they sink down into the first sustained stretch of deep water on their southward journey, 47 feet deep in the channel off Hudson. This crucial deep-water nursery begins at the mouth of the city's North Bay and stretches nearly uninterrupted to the mouth of the Roeliff Jansen Kill in Livingston.