Threatened and Endangered Fish
Bull Trout (Salvelinus confluentus) – Threatened
Bull trout are members of the family Salmonidae and char genus, and are native to Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Montana, and western Canada. Bull trout are a cold-water fish or relatively pristine stream and lake habitats in western North America. They require cold water (colder water temperature than most salmonids require) to survive and are seldom found in waters where temperatures exceed 59-64OF. They also require stable stream channels, clean spawning and rearing gravel, complex and diverse cover, and unblocked migratory corridors. Of all salmonids, bull trout are excellent indicators of water quality. Protecting and restoring bull trout habitat improves the water quality of rivers and lakes throughout the west.
Pallid Sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) – Endangered
The pallid sturgeon is similar to thevshovelnose sturgeon, but with a longer, more pointed snout. The bases of the inner barbels are weakly fringed. The belly has scattered embedded plates or is bare and the overall color is grayish-white. Adults range from 30-72 inches in length and can weigh up to 100lbs. Like other sturgeon species, Pallid sturgeon have a long life-span and females may not reach sexual maturity until they are 15-20 years old. Pallid sturgeon are bottom dwelling, slow growing fish that feed on small fish and immature aquatic insects. This species of sturgeon is seldom seen and are one of the least understood fish in the Missouri and Mississippi River drainages. It is an ancient species that existed at the same time dinosaurs roamed the earth.
White Sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) -Endangered
The White Sturgeon is the largest and longest lived freshwater fish species in North America. Sturgeons have cartilaginous skeletons with a persistent notochord, a protractile tube-like mouth, and sensory barbels on the underside of the snout. White sturgeon are large fish with 11 to 14 dorsal, 36 to 48 lateral, and 9 to 12 ventral scutes (bony plates). They are gray in color. White Sturgeon use chemoreceptors on their barbels and electroreceptors on their snouts to help find prey in murky waters. White sturgeon live in large, cold rivers. They are bottom feeders and will eat almost any available organism, but mostly feed on fish.
