Scientists Say Lake Sturgeon Could Be Older Than the United States

Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story:

• Lake sturgeon are considered one of the oldest species of freshwater fish in North America, but a new study suggests they might live much longer than previously known.
• Scientists would measure the age of sturgeon by counting growth rings on the pectoral fin spine, but these rings became indistinguishable as fish age, and scientists suspected this might lead to an underestimation of their life span.
• By analyzing 44 years of capture-mark-recapture data, scientists discerned that it’s more likely that lake sturgeon can live for over 400 years.

North America is home to the largest collection of temperate freshwater fauna in the world, and the U.S. is host to the lion’s share of them with more than 3,800 species. Among those is Acipenser fulvescens, also known as the lake sturgeon. One of eight sturgeon species found in North America, it largely calls the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River Basin home. It’s also one of the largest, stretching upwards of seven feet and weighing 300 pounds. However, its immense stature is only one of its impressive attributes, since sturgeon are also incredibly long-lived. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife (USFW) estimates that lake sturgeon can live for as long as 150 years.

While that’s much longer than human lifespans, which top out at around 122 years old (and even then, rarely do so), a new study led by Edward Baker of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR)—with co-authors from Michigan Technological University, Michigan State University (MSU), and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources—suggests that this USFW figure is likely a gross underestimate. In fact, it turns out that sturgeon can live twice as long as previous science suggests. The results of the study were published in the Journal of Fish Biology.

“Scientists have long recognized that lake sturgeon are among North America’s longest-lived freshwater fish,” MSU’s Scott Colborne, a co-author of the study, said in a press statement. “But the new study suggests they may live far longer than previously appreciated. These fish are a living connection to history.”

Scientists usually figure out how old lake sturgeon are by counting growth rings in the pectoral fin spine, but that method isn’t perfect. As the fish get older, their rings get smaller and smaller, making them difficult to distinguish. The authors of the new paper suspected that the ages of lake sturgeon were likely being underestimated, so they decided to take a different approach. Luckily, Colborne and his team could turn to a capture–mark–recapture dataset that spanned 44 years and compare body length of tagged fish between measurements to derive adult growth rates.

To arrive at a more accurate number, the researchers tore a page from the mathematical playbook used by scientists who estimated the maximum age for the Greenland shark, which can live for longer than 400 years. Using this mathematical model, the researchers captured the mean annual growth of male and female lake sturgeon as a function of size and determined that Acipenser fulvescens could likely live far longer than the previously accepted maximum of about 150 years, with some individuals potentially reaching 200, 300, or even more than 400 years old. The researchers note that such long lifespans in lake sturgeon may be spurred on by the species’ ability to enter a low-energy torpor during the winter.

“That was one of those goosebump moments,” Colborne said in a press statement. “Here we were using modern analytical approaches, and they were pointing us toward something that Indigenous communities had long understood—that these fish live incredibly long lives.”

Capturing the true age of sturgeon was only possible due to decades of conservation work that cataloged valuable data while also securing a future for the lake sturgeon itself. In April 2024, the USFWS announced that through collaborative partnerships across federal, state, local, and tribal sources, the U.S. has seen an increase of sturgeon spawning in the freshwater environments that the species has inhabited for nearly 150 million years. Understanding the true maximum age of these remarkable fish will help conservationists and wildlife managers ensure that sturgeon have a place to live and thrive for the foreseeable future.

“Because of their life history, sturgeon are very resilient and adaptable animals,” Colborne said in a press statement. “If we give them the opportunity to survive, they’ll figure it out. There’s a reason these fish have been around for millions of years.”

Darren lives in Portland, has a cat, and writes/edits about sci-fi and how our world works. You can find his previous stuff at Gizmodo and Paste if you look hard enough.