LAKE STURGEON NEWBIES -- This video is of newly hatched lake sturgeon fry at MDC’s Blind Pony Hatchery near Sweet Springs. They were spawned 10 days ago. For the next several days they will survive by absorbing their yolk sacs, which provide nourishment. They will then begin eating a diet of freshly hatched brine shrimp. They will be reared in hatchery tanks until they are around 8” in length and then be released this fall into the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. Lake sturgeon are an endangered

While collecting larval sturgeon on the Mississippi River for research and release, MDC staff discovered a predatory mayfly trying to eat a larval shovelnose sturgeon. The mayfly is found in large rivers with sandy environments, and also where larval sturgeon are drifting in the river. Ironically, as adults, the bottom-feeding sturgeon eat mayfly larvae as part of their diet. Thank you Joshua Abner for the video. | Missouri Dept. of Conservation