MONITORING PALLID STURGEON LONG-RANGE MOVEMENT AND HABITAT USE IN THE MIDDLE 
MISSISSIPPI RIVER

Timothy W. Spier1, James Garvey, Ron Brooks, Rob Colombo, Brian Koch, and Chris 
Williamson2
1WIU Department of Biology, 1 University Circle, Macomb, IL, 61455. 
2SIUC Fisheries and IL Aquaculture Center, Life Sciences 2 Room 173, Carbondale, 
IL, 92901-6511.

The federally endangered pallid sturgeon Scaphirhynchus albus is rare in the 
Middle Mississippi River, and little is known about its habitat use and movement 
patterns in this portion of the river. During a 10 year period, we implanted 
ultrasonic transmitters in 92 pallid sturgeon and tracked their movements 
throughout the Middle Mississippi River. Once a fish was located, we recorded 
its position and then used GIS to evaluate pallid sturgeon macrohabitat use. 
Pallids (N = 59 fish relocated, 362 positions recorded) selected open water, 
such as the main channel and open channel borders, over other macrohabitats such 
as diked channel borders, wing dikes, island tips, or side channels. Movement 
per day was greatest during the spring, and some pallids made relatively long 
migrations during this time of year. Currently, we are supplementing our active 
tracking with an array of passive receivers spread throughout the Middle 
Mississippi River which allow us to track long term movement patterns of pallid 
sturgeon.

Key Words: Scaphirhynchus albus, pallid sturgeon, telemetry, habitat, movement