The UC Davis Green Sturgeon Broodstock program begin in 1999 in collaboration with the Yurok Tribe of northern California. Spawning green sturgeon from the Klamath River were captured by Yurok Tribe fishermen, and eggs were fertilized and brought to the UC Davis hatchery to be reared for conservation physiology research as well as for broodstock. This is the only captive breeding population of green sturgeon, giving us the unique and exciting opportunity to learn more about this ancient fish species.

Current and past green sturgeon physiology research has focused on many climate change stressors including temperature, salinity and feed ration.

We assessed the vulnerability of juvenile green sturgeon to common Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta predatory fishes, including largemouth bass, striped bass and channel catfish. Check out our Staff Research Associate, Sarah Baird’s, publication titled Experimental assessment of predation risk for juvenile green sturgeon, Acipenser medirostris, by two predatory fishes: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jai.13990