White sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) is a saltwater, freshwater, brackish species recorded in the United States. It is found at depths of 1–122 m.
Scientific name: Acipenser transmontanus · Water: Saltwater, Freshwater, Brackish
Size: up to 610 cm
The white sturgeon is the largest acipenserid of the eastern Pacific, spending most of its time at sea close to shore and entering the estuaries of large rivers to move far inland and spawn. It is recorded from 1 to 122 m between Alaska Bay and Monterey, California, with landlocked populations in the Columbia River drainage. Fish longer than about 48 cm feed mainly on other fishes, while smaller ones take chironomids, small crustaceans, insects and mollusks. Maximum length is about 610 cm total length and it can live 104 years. It is a commercial species, farmed commercially and a gamefish, with excellent flesh sold fresh, smoked or frozen and eggs marketed as caviar. Fishing vulnerability is very high at 87 of 100 and resilience very low. IUCN lists it as vulnerable, and it is on CITES Appendix II.
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