By Geneva Langeland, MISG Communications Editor
Is that a baby shark?
No, that’s a lake sturgeon!
I jumped up from the sand where I’d been sitting with my relatives and trotted over to a neighboring group of Grand Haven beachgoers. Someone was holding a washed-up dead fish by the tail to show his friends, and I recognized its dangling profile immediately. It was my favorite Great Lakes species: the native lake sturgeon.
These iconic ancient fish can grow up to 7 feet long and can weigh up to 300 pounds. Lake sturgeon can live for over a century and do not begin reproducing until they are 15-20 years old. Once abundant in many Michigan lakes and rivers, lake sturgeon were nearly wiped out due to overfishing and habitat loss, particularly the destruction of rocky reefs in rivers that sturgeon and other native fish species use for spawning.
Scientists from the US Fish and Wildlife Service measure and tag adult lake sturgeon to assess fish populations throughout a river system. Credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Many partnerships and projects are working to help build sturgeon populations to a self-sustaining level in Michigan. This work includes restoring sturgeon habitat, reintroducing sturgeon into their native ranges, and raising awareness and appreciation for this unique species.
Michigan Sea Grant is part of a multi-decade collaboration to restore lake sturgeon in the Saginaw Bay area. Each fall, we join natural resources agency staff, local partners, and members of the public to release hundreds of juvenile lake sturgeon into Saginaw Bay-area rivers. These fish are raised in hatcheries until they’re about 4 months old. Hatchery-raised fish are implanted with tiny ID tags, like microchips in pets. If the fish are later caught by anglers or researchers, the tags can be scanned to show where the fish was raised, when it was released, and how large it was at the time. The fish can then be safely returned to the water, and researchers can update the digital information with fresh location and size data.
A juvenile sturgeon, about six inches long, waits for its turn to be released into the Flint River in 2023. Photo: Geneva Langeland
Hatchery-raised lake sturgeon are released in many places around the state, including rivers that feed into Lake Michigan. So when I spotted the two-foot-long lake sturgeon dangling from the beachgoer’s hand in Grand Haven, I wondered if a tag might be hiding at the base of its skull. I introduced myself to the group, explained my enthusiasm about this dead creature (“It’s work-related, I promise!”), and carefully carried the carcass to safety.
Something had eaten the fish’s internal organs, but the exterior was in fairly good shape. I measured the fish, took some pictures, and wrapped it in several layers of trash bags before placing the bundle in the freezer.
The lake sturgeon’s soft tissues had mostly been eaten, leaving behind the bones and armored skin. Photo: Geneva Langeland
Several weeks later, I brought the frozen sturgeon to meet Joe Maka in a Grand Haven police station parking lot. Joe is a west Michigan creel clerk with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR). He helps paint a picture of Lake Michigan’s fish populations by connecting with anglers coming in with their catches.
He also fields calls from folks who find dead lake sturgeon on their beaches. He’ll head out to the property or meet them in a public location to scan the sturgeon in search of tags. Usually, the little handheld scanner comes up empty.
This time, we hit the jackpot.
“I’ve been a creel clerk for 18 years,” said Joe, “and I get called out to scan plenty of sturgeon. This is the first one I’ve scanned that actually had a tag.”
While the carcass was too damaged to tell exactly how it died, Joe took the fish back to his MDNR colleagues to see if anyone could use the remains for research or education purposes.
The sturgeon’s skin is covered in armored plates called scutes. Older sturgeon gradually lose the spine ridges that protected their younger selves from predators. Photo: Geneva Langeland
He also ran the tag’s ID code through hatchery databases and found a match.
My sturgeon was reared by the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, also known as the Gun Lake Tribe, in Fennville, Michigan. They are one of many indigenous communities stepping up as stewards of this venerable species. Lake sturgeon are known as nmé in Ojibwe and have a deep and rich cultural history with Great Lakes tribal communities. Multiple Michigan tribes now operate hatcheries and coordinate lake sturgeon restoration projects.
This youngster would have been released into a nearby river at about 3-4 months old, when it was large enough to evade predators like turtles and other fish. It entered its new home on September 10, 2021, at 161mm (about 6.3 inches) in length.
Over the next three years, the sturgeon hoovered up worms and snails from bottom sediments while moseying through Michigan waterways. It grew another 16 inches before meeting its unknown fate and washing up on the Grand Haven beach. Life isn’t easy for a small fish, but I hope its siblings are still cutting peacefully through the water, growing longer and fatter, settling in for the long haul of bringing their species back from the brink.
