[8] Recent genetic analysis supports a close relationship between (A. transmontanus) and (A. schrenckii), which is only found in Asia, showing a common ancestor between the two around 45.8 million years ago.

Using microsatellites, genetic differentiation between different river systems in the Pacific Northwest and California is high enough to be able to distinguish between white sturgeon populations and validate a structure in which watershed (A. transmontanus) resides in.

White sturgeon are commonly found in deep, soft bottomed areas of estuaries, where movements in the water column is dependent on salinity.

While the model developed by Robichaud, English and Nelson[12] assumes a closed homogenous population, acoustic tags and mark-recapture data shows that they are sedentary during the winter months and mobile in the spring and fall, with data indicating that they leave the Fraser River and enter the Strait of Georgia during their mobile periods; this conclusion has been validated by microchemical evidence of marine exposure in Fraser River white sturgeon fin rays.

[14] Larval white sturgeon 10–11 mm (0.39–0.43 in) in TL experience the highest mortality when they transition from endogenous to exogenous feeding, around 8–14 days post-hatch depending on conditions.

Once larvae metamorphose into young of the year (YOY) and juveniles, they actively feed on the substrate, dominantly Corophium spp., relying on water currents to carry them downriver to areas of suitable food.

[15] Juveniles less than 600 mm (2.0 ft) TL are known to feed on tube-dwelling amphipods, mysids, isopods, Corophium spp, and other benthic invertebrates, as well as on the eggs and fry of other fish species.

[16] Adults greater than 600 mm (2.0 ft) consume a variety prey species, adjusting to a piscivorous diet of herring, shad, starry flounder, goby, smelt, anchovy, lamprey, and salmon, as well as benthic items such as invasive overbite clam.

[14] Studies have shown that dietary lipid requirements on larval white sturgeon effect overall body composition, plasma biochemical parameters and liver fatty acids.

[citation needed] "White sturgeons are iteroparous breeders with a spawning period in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers between mid-February to late May, with peak activity during March and April" - Kohlhorst 1976.

[19]There is much uncertainty around reproduction timing of events in white sturgeon, with many papers reporting differing results dependent on the river system observed.

[21] When eggs are released by the female, they are negatively buoyant, and develop an adhesive coat upon contact with water, which allows them to attach to the substrate near where they were spawned.

[23] Despite being a relatively robust population that includes tens of thousands of sub-adults and adults, management is complicated due to exposure of pollutants, freshwater and estuary alteration, harvest, and because of its long life span, which can mask detection of reproductive success.