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.
Lake sturgeons can grow to a large size for freshwater fish, topping 7.25 ft (2.2 m) long and 240 lb (108 kg).
Its diet consists of insect larvae, worms (including leeches), and other small organisms (primarily metazoan) it finds in the mud.
These sturgeon often migrate in search of food or suitable spawning locations, or in response to seasonal environmental conditions.
Observations suggest lake sturgeon and other fish and invertebrates likely consume some fertilized eggs while on the spawning grounds.
The larvae soon become pelagic, remaining far from the surface and bed, and negatively phototactic, or attracted to darkness, while searching for rocky places to hide.
Such unsustainable catch rates were coupled with environmental challenges such as pollution and the construction of dams and other flood control measures.
In the 20th century, drastic drops in sturgeon catches, increased regulations, and the closure of viable fisheries occurred.
[4] This sturgeon is a valuable gourmet food fish, as well as a source of specialty products including caviar and isinglass.
"In 1860, this species, taken on incidental catches of other fishes, was killed and dumped back in the lake, piled up on shore to dry and be burned, fed to pigs, or dug into the earth as fertilizer.
In 2002 they successfully documented natural reproduction of lake sturgeon by capturing larvae (newly hatched fish) from the Big Manistee River.
The Streamside Rearing Facility for lake sturgeon on the Big Manistee River became operational in the spring of 2004 and marked the first time this technique had ever been used for this species.
Since that time there have been five Streamside Rearing Facilitys operating within the Lake Michigan Basin built on the same LRBOI design.
New York State has also had a successful recovery program, using eggs and sperm collected from a spawning area on the St. Lawrence River.
In early June 2017, aquatic biologists conducted the annual assisted propagation effort, through which 130,000 fertilized eggs were sent to hatcheries.
Fish and Wildlife Service in cooperation with locally managed fisheries from North Carolina to the Great Lakes.
To better understand their life cycle, USFWS tags individual sturgeon and records abundance, distribution, age, growth and health of the population.
Adult sturgeon are caught in the river, their eggs and sperm are extracted and then taken back to the hatchery for fertilization, and left to incubate.
Limited sturgeon fishing seasons are permitted in only a few areas, including some locations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
Sturgeon were taken not just for their meat but also for the eggs (caviar) and other parts, especially the isinglass, which was traditionally used as a paint adhesive and later as a trade item with Europeans.
In fact, members of this tribe living in the sturgeon-rich Winnipeg River watershed were known as "Sturgeon Indians" during the fur trade era.