Lake sturgeon
| Lake sturgeon Temporal range: Pleistocene - Recent | |
|---|---|
| A lake sturgeon | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Acipenseriformes |
| Family: | Acipenseridae |
| Genus: | Acipenser |
| Species: | A. fulvescens |
| Binomial name | |
| Acipenser fulvescens (Rafinesque, 1817) | |
| Synonyms | |
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The lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens), also known as the rock sturgeon, is a North American temperate freshwater fish, one of about 25 species of sturgeon. Like other sturgeons, this species is a bottom feeder and has a partly cartilaginous skeleton, an overall streamlined shape, and skin bearing rows of bony plates on the sides and back.
The lake sturgeon uses its elongated, spade-like snout to stir up the substrate and sediments on the beds of rivers and lakes to feed. Four sensory organs (barbels) hang near its mouth to help the sturgeon locate bottom-dwelling prey. Lake sturgeons can grow to a large size for freshwater fish, topping 7.25 ft (2.2 m) long and 240 lb (108 kg).
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