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Glossary
- Asymmetrical
- not symmetrical
- Barbels
- a whisker-like sensor that protrudes from the mouth area of a sturgeon and is used to sense food in murky water
- Bedrock
- consolidated rock beneath the surface of the earth
- Benthic
- associated with the bottom of a water body
- Boulders
- large rocks with grain size greater than ten inches in diameter
- Cartilage
- connective tissues without blood vessels
- Caviar
- ripe sturgeon eggs which are processed and salted to be eaten as a spread or used as a garnish
- Cobble
- rocks with a grain size between 2.5 to 10 inches
- Confluence
- where two or more bodies of water meet
- Cordwood
- wood pile
- Drainage Basin
- an area of land where all water drains into a central water body
- Externally
- on the outside of the sturgeon body
- Fingerling
- small fish under one year of age
- Foraging habitat
- areas in which a fish searches for food
- Fry
- young fish which have absorbed their yolk sac, during the larvae stage, and begin hunting for food
- Genetics
- the science of heredity and variation in living organisms
- Habitat
- an area where plants and animals live
- Headwaters
- the source of a river or stream
- Heterocercal tail
- shark-like asymmetrical tail
- Incubation
- the process of keeping eggs in a favorable condition for hatching
- Index Fishing Program
- program of annual netting used to estimate fish population size
- Irrigation
- diversion of waterway to water agricultural crops
- Isinglass
- a sticky substance that is made from swim bladders of fish
- Larva (sac fry)
- the first mobile stage of life after hatching
- Mainstem
- the main channel of a river
- Mortality
- death
- Pectoral fins
- located directly behind the gill covers (operculum) on both sides of the sturgeon
- Prehistoric
- before written historic records
- Recaptured
- to find and capture the same fish consecutive times
- Recruitment
- addition of new fish to a population, usually through natural reproduction or stocking
- Sac Fry (larva)
- newly hatched fish that have not yet absorbed their yolk sac
- Scutes
- small, bony plates on the outside of the sturgeon that is for protection
- Spawning
- behavior and actions of male and female animals for the purposes of reproduction
- Spurs
- projection from the scutes of young sturgeon to deter predators
- Stocking
- release of fish into the wild
- Sucker mouth
- tube-like mouth which sucks prey into their jaw
- Tagged
- external identification, such as a wire or flag which indicates previously captured strugeon
- Waterway
- a stream or river which sturgeon may inhabit
- Water velocity
- the speed at which the river or stream is flowing
- Yolk sac
- a small sac attached to the larvae that provides nutrients needed to survive and grow