Gulf sturgeon travels

Photo credit: Ryan Hagerty, USFWS

🚨🚨A 5-foot long Gulf sturgeon was detected in the Pearl River near LeFleurs Bluff State Park ABOVE the Jackson Waterworks dam this past spring!! The Gulf sturgeon, originally tagged by Kayla Kimmel and her USFWS Baton Rouge team in 2017, was detected by a tag reader from a Gulf sturgeon telemetry study being conducted by Dr. Michael Andres’ lab from The University of Southern Mississippi funded by the USFWS. The last confirmed Gulf sturgeon sighting in the Jackson area was 1996. The Gulf sturgeon is an anadromous species that lives in saltwater but travels up freshwater rivers to spawn. The 2 lowhead dams on the Pearl River are barriers to their natural migration and spawning patterns. Numerous sturgeon studies are currently being conducted on the Pearl River which will help scientists in their recovery efforts for this gorgeous endangered species. This is such exciting news for the Pearl River and the Gulf sturgeon that the national press picked up the story!  Click below to read the story in the Miami Herald. 

The University of Southern Mississippi graduate students and research technicians hold an adult Gulf sturgeon captured in the Pascagoula River. Pictured from left to right: Elizabeth Greenheck, Alfonso Cohuo, Austin Draper, Kasea Price, and Kati Wright. (Photo credit: Michael Andres, The University of Southern Mississippi)