Michigan Department of Natural Resources
Fisheries Research Report No.1898, 1984

Artificial Propagation of Lake Sturgeon Acipenser fulvescens (Rafinesque), Under Hatchery Conditions in Michigan


Eric Robert Anderson


      Abstract.-Eggs and milt were collected from spawning adult lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens Rafinesque) from the upper Black River, Cheboygan County, Michigan, on 13 May 1983. Eggs, obtained by cesarean-section, were fertilized by the dry method, using milt stripped from males and collected by syringe. Lake sturgeon eggs collected from the Fox River in Winnebago County, Wisconsin, were fertilized and donated by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Fertilized eggs were incubated in standard McDonald hatching jars.

Artificial and natural diets were presented to groups of experimental sturgeon, and survival and growth were measured for each group. Natural diets were zooplankton and aquatic annelids; artificial diets were Biodiet and Oregon Moist Pellets. Both direct and weaned feeding were tested.

Sturgeon fed natural diets throughout the study showed highest survival (45-90%) and growth rates (approximately 7.6 mm/week) for all groups tested. Michigan and Wisconsin sturgeon fed natural diets showed similar mortalities during the 9-week study, however, Wisconsin fish showed significantly higher growth rates (8.18 mm/week) than Michigan sturgeon (6.92 mm/week). In contrast, fish fed artificial diets did not survive 9 weeks and had decreased growth rates (approximately 4.7 mm/week). The exception was one weaned group fed Biodiet, which showed growth rates similar to fish fed natural diets, but with a survival of only 3.7%.