Wildlife Experts Are Releasing Giant, Prehistoric Fish That Can Grow Over 100 Pounds

As sad as it is, there are thousands of species on the brink of extinction today, and that number jumps to 1 million when you include both plants and animals. This is obviously a major problem, but there have at least been some success stories whereby once-endangered animals have been brought back from the precipice of being wiped out. The lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) was never officially designated endangered, but over the last few decades, its numbers dwindled to a worrying degree. Thankfully, restoration efforts have seen the species rebound, and now wildlife experts in Ohio and Michigan are taking further steps to preserve this prehistoric species, which according to the fossil record has been in existence for at least 150 million years.

In Ohio, the lake sturgeon, otherwise known as the Great Lakes sturgeon, rock sturgeon, and bullnosed sturgeon, is being reintroduced into the Cuyahoga River, where it's hoped the fish, which was once abundant in the Ohio River, will proliferate after almost half a century of decline. Meanwhile, in Michigan, experts are taking similar steps to reintroduce the lake sturgeon to the Saginaw River system, where the species has also seen a dramatic decline in population.

In both states, restoration groups have just hit major milestones by releasing record numbers of lake sturgeon into their respective waterways, further securing the future of this living fossil.

The lake sturgeon is a truly unique-looking fish. Covered in body plates, the species lives up to its prehistoric origins and looks like some sort of armored shark, with an extendable tube-like mouth that sits on the underside of its snout. The fish typically measures between 4 and 6 feet in length, though it can reach lengths of up to 8 feet. The lake sturgeon also weighs between 50 and 100 pounds, but the largest specimen ever recorded came from the Ohio's Lake Erie in 1929 and weighed 216 pounds.

Sadly, the likelihood of finding such a specimen in the same lake has dramatically reduced in recent decades. While it wasn't quite one of several animals that tricked us into thinking it was extinct, the lake sturgeon was once widespread in Ohio waterways including the Ohio River and Lake Erie, before its numbers dwindled. Unfortunately, while there have been a small number of the species found in Lake Erie of late, none have been identified in the Ohio River since 1971. It's thought that the addition of numerous dams have prevented the fish from traveling to their spawning sites, drastically reducing their numbers.

Now, Ohio wildlife experts are set to reintroduce a record number of lake sturgeon back into the waterways as part of the ongoing Cuyahoga River recovery efforts. After releasing 60 of the fish implanted with transmitters last year, Cuyahoga County, the Cleveland Metroparks, and the Ohio Division of Wildlife will release 1,500 juvenile lake sturgeon into the Cuyahoga River on October 4, 2025. Introducing the sturgeon back into the river is another step in restoring the waterway to its former glory. But it's not just the Buckeye State that's helping to bring this prehistoric fish back from the brink of extinction.

In Michigan, the story of the lake sturgeon is similar to Ohio, with the fish once being prevalent in the Saginaw River system in the east of the state before experiencing a marked decline in numbers to the point the species is now considered threatened in the area. Thankfully, much like with the Cuyahoga River recovery efforts, there has been a big push to reintroduce the fish to the waterway each year since 2014, and now, the Saginaw Bay Sturgeon Restoration group has hit a major milestone by releasing an incredible 7,000 lake sturgeon into Saginaw River system.

It's hoped that these juvenile fish will spread and make their way to the Great Lakes, helping to restore the species in the area, before returning to the Saginaw River to reproduce. That could take some time, however, as it takes lake sturgeon 15 to 20 years to fully mature (unsurprising, given their long lifespan of between 55 to 150 years). Still, with these ongoing efforts, the fish has its best chance yet at becoming fully self-sustaining in Michigan again, which would be a major success story in the fight against the ongoing extinction and endangerment of thousands of animal species.