CT River Lecture Series Spring 2025

New research on the behavior of Atlantic sturgeon aggregating in the Connecticut River  – With Hannes Baumann

Wednesday, April 30; 5-6 pm
Lyme Art Association, Old Lyme

Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus) are large, iconic fish that already roamed the earth along with dinosaurs, but in human times, they have become critically endangered due to overfishing and habitat degradation. Until the early 1900s, they used to spawn in the Connecticut River, but that ended as their population declined, just like in so many other rivers along the North American Atlantic coast. Since 1998, however, the strict protection of sturgeons under the Endangered Species Act has led to cautious signs of recovery, and the animals appear to rediscover their habitats in Long Island Sound and the Connecticut River. To further the species protection and conservation, researchers from CT DEEP and the University of Connecticut have been monitoring this particular Atlantic sturgeon aggregation, checking on fish size and age, while using telemetry of acoustically tagged animals to find out where and when exactly sturgeon use the different parts of the river. This talk will share some of our recently published findings, which surprisingly showed that sturgeons of all sizes and ages like to swim up the Connecticut River in summer. Are they searching for food, or could some be motivated by spawning there again?

Click here to learn more about Hannes Baumann

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