Green & White Sturgeon Primer

STGRule · 11-27-2002, 02:51 PM

There was a thread about where green sturgeon hung out and a question about how to tell the difference was asked. So here it is.
First is color. As you can see from the next two pictures, that isn't always a good characteristic.

This is a green....

This is a white...

Usually whites are shade of gray and greens are a shade of green.
This picture will show you the general differences in the shape of the head. White on the left and green on the right.

Greens usually have a longer, pointier head than a white and barbels are closer to the mouth than whites.

Here is how they look from the side.

As you can see the color difference is more normal with these two. Again white on the left and green on the right. You can also see the stripe that greens usually have down their sides.

Here is what they look like from the bottom. Again white on the left and green on the right. Notice that the green has another stripe down the belly. This can just be a little splotch all the way to a long stripe. You can also see that the vent is behind the pelvic fins on the white and right between on the green.

Here is a close up of the side stripe

White sturgeon have more scutes down their sides than greens do. Whites have 36-48 and greens have 22-33 and as you can see from this picture thay can be rather sharp.

As you can see from my wrist they are sharp.

Hope this helps on your next sturgeon adventure! :grin:

letsfish · 11-27-2002, 03:04 PM

Thanks quiet informative, a picture does wonders. Are the two species often found in the same waters as pictured? Or locally, are the whites pretty much found in the Columbia and greens in coastal bays, the Rogue?

STGRule · 11-27-2002, 03:09 PM

In coastal rivers they are found together quite often. They move seasonaly into the Columbia, but don't seem to be eating so are rarely caught by anglers.

letsfish · 11-27-2002, 03:18 PM

[ 11-27-2002, 11:39 PM: Message edited by: letsfish ]

The Fishing Geek · 11-27-2002, 04:19 PM

Great illustration, STGRule. I used to know squat about sturgeon but now I can say that I know almost squat.

KingFisher85 · 11-27-2002, 04:32 PM

I have found that a 30 inch or so green sturgeon fights harder then a 30 inch or so white sturgeon.

Them are some good picture. Now I just need to get myself an 45 inch or so white sturgeon! :grin:

King Kong · 11-27-2002, 05:28 PM

Nice post SGT! Very informative with the pictures for the novice. You look pretty serious about your sturgeon fishing!! Is that an old military litter that you use to support the fish in the water?

Point-of-Sale Clerk · 11-27-2002, 05:43 PM

Kevin King

You are just too funny... Not bad for a novice STG :grin: [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

STGRule · 11-27-2002, 06:05 PM

***: He said good pictures FOR the novice. Not BY a novice.
Kevin King: I am serious, but I get paid to do it. I've been doing sturgeon research since 1991. The litter is a home-made job. We have a couple sizes for different sized fish.

Point-of-Sale Clerk · 11-27-2002, 06:25 PM

OH... I get it now

:grin: :grin:

STGRule · 11-27-2002, 06:28 PM

[img]graemlins/eek13.gif[/img]

RogueFishr · 11-27-2002, 09:01 PM

STG,
thanks for the pics, that helps to clarify the differences. Another dumb question though: (since I feel the need to prove my complete ignorance for sturgeon :whazzup: ) are sturgeon (both types) migratory into fresh water, or is it possible that there is a resident population? I have heard of several lakes with sturgeon in them, so I assume that they can live in fresh water extensivley? As I said in an email to you, I saw a sturgeon in the local area here on an underwater camera this September. I have always heard rumors of sturgeon in HellGate Canyon too. I am just curious if these fish are anadromous or are resident here. I am going to head back out with the camera and a recorder next time, and see if I can locate some more.

RF

Fast Water · 11-27-2002, 09:09 PM

Thanks for the lesson STGRule.

Great pictures and narration!

:grin:

Small Fry · 11-27-2002, 09:32 PM

It all makes sense now.

Thanks for the pictures.

STGRule · 11-27-2002, 10:11 PM

RogueFishr: Both whites and greens migrate into fresh water from the ocean. Before the dams, white sturgeon migrated all the way to Canada in the Columbia. Since the dams have been put in there are populations that range from surviving to doomed to extinction. It depends if the pool they are trapped in has enough habitat to sustain all life stages. Hells Canyon does have a small population of fish that is made up of mostly fish that have been trapped there since the dams went in. We did some work in Oxbow Reservoir and found running ripe fish that will never spawn because there is no flow to stimulate egg release so they just re-absorb their eggs. I aged those fish we caught and all of them except the juveniles that had tags in them so we knew they had been stocked by Idaho were older than the dams.
There are species of sturgeon on the east coast that do live entirely in lake systems and others that have a variety of fresh and saltwater needs.

The fish you saw at the base of the dam could have been either a green or a white. Scute counts are the key to identification.
We found that greens travel up south coastal rivers much further and stay much longer than we thought. We have this new information because we have just started paying attention and doing our research. The one thing we found was that anglers are our best resource. If they can tell the difference between the species they have the premium knowledge.

11-27-2002, 10:22 PM

STG,
How big do greens get? The only sturgeon that I've caught was a 6' green caught in the Gardner area of Winchester Bay.

Do you have any information on the sturgeon in Klamath Lake? Someone told me that they weren't natural but planted by mistake. I do know that there were large sturgeon in the lake in the mid '50, my grandmother had one on, it jumped out of the water and impressed all of us!

STGRule · 11-27-2002, 10:42 PM

Keta: I believe greens top out at about 7ish feet (but give me a few days to be sure). I don't know about sturgeon in Klamath Lake. There are greens and some whites in that river system so I don't see why they couldn't be that high in the system naturally (especially whites). But again, I don't know for sure and I'm not sure where to look for that information. I'll try but I can't promise you anything there.

11-27-2002, 10:49 PM

STG,
The 9' fish that got caught in the culvert down by Midland 5 or so years ago was a white.

There's some talk about listing greens in the Klamath System as endangered. I don't know this but it probably is just going to be another "tool".

sinker · 11-28-2002, 12:21 AM

Never seen pics of green sturgeon. And all this time I thought the white sturgeon were ugly fish. :shocked: :shocked: