lake sturgeon

Dr. Bernie Kuhajda

Along with Ijams' Peg Beute and other members of the Water Quality Forum, I attended the very first release of young lake sturgeon back into the rivers of the Tennessee Valley. That was in July of 2000 on the shoreline of French Broad River just below Douglas Dam. It was a spot I knew well. When I was a boy, I had fished it with my father Russell.

Since 2000, I have attended several other down-by-the-river events. Below are scenes from Seven Islands State Birding Park in October 2015.

In every case, the young fingerlings swam out into the depths to more or less disappear, their moment of notoriety fleeting. 

French Broad River at Seven Islands

Kathlina Alford, Thom Benson and Dr. Bernie Kuhajda with the Tennessee Aquarium (right, all in dark blue) help Gap Creek fifth graders release young sturgeon into the French Broad.

Some of the 1,000 sturgeon sampling the taste of the French Broad River for the first time.

These two sturgeon spent the past year at Ijams in the Exhibit Hall under the care of Dr. Louise Conrad. 
But they have outgrown their aquarium and will now move on to a larger one in New Orleans

Two new young-of-the-year sturgeon are now on display at Ijams.