- Lake sturgeon can grow to be 7ft long, 200 lbs and can live for 150 years.
- This large, filter feeding species, plays a role in freshwater river and reservoir ecologies that is sometimes compared to the role of whales.
- Like salmon, sturgeon spawn in the streams and rivers in which they were born.
- Sturgeon were once abundant. In the 19th century, the value of their meat and eggs and a lack of regulation led to them being hunted to the brink of extinction. The construction of dams in the 20th century further impacted the species to reproduce. Recovery efforts are ongoing and the species is now protected in Tennessee and Kentucky.
