Just in time for Valentine’s Day, here’s a heart-warming tale about pallid sturgeon mating. OK, so maybe the idea of pallid sturgeon spawning isn’t warm and fuzzy like other Valentine’s Day stories, but for fisheries biologists that have spent large parts of their careers working with the rare fish, this was a big deal. Last June, a female pallid sturgeon swam up the Yellowstone River into the Powder River, followed by four amorous males. The biologists were able to watch the adventure because they had stationed transmitters along the banks of the river to track the fish. Once the sturgeon left the Powder River the biologists netted the female to find she had no eggs, so they began sampling for the baby pallid sturgeon, called larvae. They captured some of what may be pallid sturgeon larvae but are awaiting lab results for positive proof.

To read more about why this information is so important, check out my story on The Billings Gazette website at: http://bgz.tt/ghlf3

(Written by Brett French – Outdoors Editor for the Billings Gazette)