HPL STURGEON RESEARCH

Sturgeon Research at the UMCES Horn Point Laboratory

Restoring sturgeon to the Chesapeake Bay is an evolving science that melds traditional aquaculture and innovative science to find the best way to breed this unique species, rear them in a laboratory, then release them into the wild. In many cases, researchers are writing the book as they proceed.

Pre-release weaning of juvenile Atlantic sturgeon

Newly hatched sturgeon in the hatchery begin feeding on brine shrimp and will readily accept a finely ground commercial starter diet at 3-4 weeks of age. They grow quickly and are gradually fed larger sizes of commercial pellets. A frequently asked question is will juvenile sturgeon fed pelleted diets survive once released. To better answer this question, a study was conducted using two year classes (one and two year old fish) or ages of juvenile sturgeon (Canadian sturgeon and not to be released in US waters); half fed natural foods (grass shrimp and polychaetes or worms) for three weeks prior to stocking in a pond, and the other half continually fed pellets up to stocking. The pond had an abundant supply of natural foods, and fish growth was sampled monthly. Preliminary results showed greater growth for the younger fish fed natural foods prior to release. This study will be repeated in the spring of 2009 using smaller fish to provide more data and help in developing future pre-release weaning recommendations.

Feed Training of Wild-Caught Atlantic Sturgeon

In the wild, sturgeon are bottom dwelling fish that feed benthic organisms including mollusks, insects and crustaceans. In the laboratory however, that’s not the case. One of the biggest challenges facing researchers is training wild-caught fish to eat commercial food pellets – pellets that wild fish do not readily accept.

At the Horn Point Laboratory, researchers evaluate various feeding methods to train wild-caught sturgeon onto commercial pellet diet. To date, researchers have successfully trained 92 percent of smaller fish and 35 percent of large fish (>10 kg) to eat commercial pellets which comprised of pieces of natural food (bloodworms, clams, shrimp and squid). While some fish have lost weight during the study, some have gained up to 160 percent.

 

 

Example of one successful diet regime beginning with shrimp; followed by a gelatin diet consisting of shrimp, fish, various vegetables, and ground commercial diets; and lastly the commercial diet.