A.+oxyrinchus

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Scientific Name: Acipenser Oxyrinchus
 * Species Authority:** Mitchell, 1815
 * Regular Name:** Gulf Sturgeon
 * Kingdom:** Animalia
 * Phylum:** Chordata
 * Genus:** Acipenser
 * Class:** Actinopterygll
 * Order:** Acipenseriformes
 * Family:** Acipenseridae


 * Endangered Species Act:** 1998- the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Services made the "Status Review of Atlantic Sturgeon" as an anwer to The U.S. Endangered Species Act.

- -**Atlantic waters in Canada and the United States -went from along Labrador to Florida - lives in a benthic core habitat. -range along the Canadian and U.S. Atlantic Coast from Labrador to Florida and it still exists in 14 Atlantic Coast rivers. -The Gulf Sturgeon lives in freshwater and is a marine animal. - live in water temperatures from 13-18 degrees Celsius. - their migration of coastal tide rivers starts in February and lasts until June or July. -temperature: 10-25 degrees celsius -salinity: 32.0-37.0
 * Where does the Gulf Sturgeon live?
 * Physical Habitat features**
 * Atlantic Ocean temperature, salinity:**


 * Migration patterns:**
 * -**The Gulf Sturgeon travels from the Mississippi River to the Suwannee River in Florida and oceans of the Central and Eastern Gulf of Mexico. The building of dams and water projects get in the way of migragtion for the Gulf Sturgeon in waters such as St. Andrew Bay to the Bogue Chitto River.

-**The largest collection was in the Delaware River and Bay in 1890 there were 2,300 metric tons. Other rivers along the Atlantic Coast found 3,200 metric tons of sturgeon and from the Hudson River, coastal New Jersey and the Carolinas in the mid 1890s, there was about 50-100 metric tons of the fish. -The Suwannee River has 7,250 sturgeon older than two years old. -The Choctawatchee River: 1,700- 3,000 sturgeon. -Apalachicola, Pascagoula, and Pearl rivers: 50-350 sturgeon.
 * Population estimates of species:

-population: increasing.
 * Survival trends of species:**

-male size: 403 cm (total length) -female size: 430 cm (total length) -weight: 368 kg -color: brown and greenish color with five rows of plates. -mode: dioecism -fertilization: external -reproductive guild: non guarders in open water/ substratus egg scatterers -eggs: on the bottom with an ovoid, sticky shape and they are yellow, orange, and amber. The Lake Sturgeon lays about 2-3 million eggs.= -description of life cycle and mating behavior: young go out to sea after four years of living in freshwater.
 * Appearance of species:**
 * Reproduction:**

1.heavy body with a cylinder shape 2. head with an extending snout (spiracle) 3. mouth has four barbels 4. gills attached to isthmus 5. dorsal fin on back of the body 6. caudal fin is asymmetrical 7. low pectoral fins 8. pelvic fins; all fins are spineless 9. skeleton cartilagious 10. bony plates on head and body with shields in five rows, one row on the mid back, one row on both sides, and one on the ventrolateral margin -**Acipenser Oxyrinchus eats bony fish, insects, shrimps, prawns, worms, polychaetes, bivavles, amphipods, isopods, and gastropods. -Predators: finfish; Ichthyomyzon unicuspis in the Petromyzontidae family.
 * Animal anatomy and physiology**
 * Food Chain/Web:

-**The Atlantic Sates Marine Fisheries Commission made a management plan for the sturgeon as did the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commision. -Canadian fisheries are making a stricter regulation on fisheries for sturgeon. -life history, population status studies, sock delineation, development of culture.
 * Economic importance of species:


 * Threats and reason for endangerment:**

-The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service filled out the "Status Review of Atlantic Sturgeon" when the species was threatened and endangered because of the U.S. Endangered Species Act. - Sturgeon are popular for meet, roe, oil, and isinglass in Europe. Since it is popular as roe, the species was exploited. -Competition, predation, diseases, and parasites are all threats to the species. -They have been affected by dams, siltation, dredging, and water pollution.

-** U.S. Atlantic Sturgeon fisheries are closed since 1997. - Nine licensed fisherman are in the St. John fishery since 1997 and they cannot catch more than 2,800 m of gill net. - No commercial or sport fishing for the sturgeon is allowed anymore. -There is federal protection with the Endangered Species Act and they are required to check the water projects to make sure the population does not decrease.
 * Conservation Efforts:

1. I think we could save the species as citizens if we let them free and cut back on heavy fishing and commercial fishing. 2. Put all the management plans on fisheries into effect and enforce the rules and regulations that follow. 3. Another solution could be to think of ways to limit bycatch and set the Atlantic Sturgeon free.
 * Solutions:**



1. Where does the Atlantic Sturgeon travel to and from?**
 * __Scavenger Hunt Questions__
 * 2. What does the Atlantic Sturgeon look like in terms of appearance?**
 * 3. What are the fishery management plans to save the Atlantic Sturgeon?**

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