Estuarine and Coastal Habitat Use of Gulf Sturgeon (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi</Emphasis>) in the North-Central Gulf of Mexico |
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| Authors: | Stephen T Ross W Todd Slack Ryan J Heise Mark A Dugo Howard Rogillio Bryant R Bowen Paul Mickle Richard W Heard |
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| Institution: | (1) Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern Mississippi, P.O. Box 5018, Hattiesburg, MS 39406-5018, USA;(2) Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, Museum of Natural Science, 2148 Riverside Drive, Jackson, MS 39202, USA;(3) Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, P.O. Box 1190, Lacombe, LA 70445, USA;(4) Department of Coastal Sciences, The University of Southern Mississippi, 703 East Beach Drive, Ocean Springs, MS 39564, USA;(5) Present address: Department of Biology and Museum of Southwestern Biology, MSC 03-2020 1, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001, USA;(6) Present address: Division of Inland Fisheries, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, 1142 I-85 Service Road, Creedmoor, NC 27522, USA;(7) Present address: Region VI Fisheries Management Section, Wildlife Resources Division, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, 108 Darling Avenue, Waycross, GA 31502, USA |
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| Abstract: | Gulf sturgeon are anadromous, spawning in freshwater and returning to the marine environment to feed. Herein, we document
the marine distribution and timing of movement in and out of the marine environment of Gulf sturgeon natal to the Pascagoula
and Pearl rivers (MS and LA). From 1999 to 2004, we attached sonic transmitters to 194 fish averaging 151 (MS) to 160 (LA)
cm in fork length. We located 56 different Gulf sturgeon in the estuarine or marine environments, some multiple times. Fish
were distributed nonrandomly, being found primarily in shallow water (mean = 3.9 m) in barrier island passes. Benthic samples
taken at Gulf sturgeon telemetry location sites were dominated by Florida lancelets, sand dollars, annelids, haustoriid amphipods,
and mollusks—all documented prey of Gulf sturgeon. Movement into salt water consistently occurred in October and November;
movement back into rivers or low salinity estuaries was complete by the end of March. |
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