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Some of the lake sturgeon swimming around in the Great Lakes today may have been alive when Samuel de Champlain first reached Lake Huron more than four centuries ago.
New research suggests these ancient-looking, armoured fish may live far longer than scientists previously thought — in some cases, more than 400 years.
But despite their extraordinary longevity, lake sturgeon — which can weigh up to 180 kilograms and grow up to two metres long — have barely survived us. In Ontario, lake sturgeon are listed as a species at risk, and endangered in the Great Lakes specifically.
Overfishing and destruction of their spawning habitat wiped out an estimated 99 per cent of the lake sturgeon's historic population. More than a century later, populations in parts of the Great Lakes still rely on human beings raising and releasing young fish to help them recover.
The new study uses more than four decades of data from lake sturgeon caught and recaptured across the Great Lakes, suggesting recovery could be a much longer project than scientists anticipated.
A new way to count sturgeon birthdays
"We're pretty comfortable saying that there are potentially 400-year-old lake sturgeon swimming around," said Ed Baker, a fisheries scientist with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources who led the study.
Traditional estimates suggest lake sturgeon can live for as long as 150 years. But figuring out how many birthdays a sturgeon has had isn't as easy as counting candles on a cake.
WATCH | Trevor Pitcher introduces us to a Great Lakes giant: Meet the ancient giants of the Great Lakes | Duration 1:13 University of Windsor biologist Trevor Pitcher introduces us to a young lake sturgeon and explains what makes these ancient fish so remarkable — and so difficult to age.
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