Swimming performance of sturgeons
Sturgeons aren’t really the best swimmers compared to baby reef fish or salmon and tunas. They have large plates covering their body and their unusually shaped heads cause a lot of drag. So why is studying their swimming performance important then? Well, sturgeons migrate up rivers each year to spawn in freshwater. Unfortunately, construction of dams limits upstream travel of sturgeons. To mitigate this, fish passages are designed to help sturgeons move over dams, but they need to be specially engineered with the swimming capabilities of sturgeons. What flow speeds will enable sturgeons across species and life history to successfully cross? Do they require any substrate to facilitate these movements? We found that small substrate may provide similar advantages as a smooth bottom flume, requiring larger pebble sizes so the sturgeons can grip the bottom. Critically, swimming experiments should be mindful of velocity and swimming time increments so results are reflective of the animal’s true capabilities.
Skillset:
-Critical swimming speed (Ucrit) tests
-Video analysis of swimming behavior
-substrate preference experiments
Notable papers:
Substrate preference:
Swimming methods:
Dr. Adam T. Downie, PhD 