Saving the Sturgeon (And we filmed them SPAWNING!)

Jonathan travels to upstate New York to learn how biologists are working to save the sturgeon in the St. Lawrence river. During a dive he films an amazing spectacle that has never been recorded before--Lake Sturgeon spawning!
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Caviar is one of the most well-known delicacies in the world, an epicurean tradition dating back to the ancient Greeks and beyond.
Caviar comes from an ancient fish called a sturgeon. Sturgeon are one of the oldest families of bony fish in existence-they have been around for hundreds of millions of years.
Today, there are 27 species of Sturgeon remaining, and every one of them is endangered!
In the mid 1800s, the Caviar industry discovered the North American sturgeon. Within 20 years, they were nearly gone.
To learn more about the Sturgeon, I have teamed up with Jen Hayes, a biologist who did her PhD work with the Lake Sturgeon in the St. Lawrence river. These days, Jen and her husband David Doubilet are underwater photographers, working on a story about the St. Lawrence for National Geographic Magazine.
New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation has undertaken an ambitious project to help increase the number of sturgeon in the river.
I meet Rodger Klindt, an Aquatic Biologist with the state who is out this morning with his team.
The team’s job is part research, and part midwife. They are collecting eggs from healthy sturgeon to raise them partly in captivity.
Certain areas of the river have sturgeon present. Rodger and his team have set nets to capture both male and female mature sturgeon.
Sturgeon can live to be over 100 years old and weigh more than 200 pounds. While these might look like big fish, they get a lot bigger. But big ones these days are rare.
Since sturgeon are not mature enough to produce eggs until they are around 20 years old, most of these fish are immature and have to go back into the river.
First, a male sturgeon is taken from his tank where the team extracts sperm using a syringe. Then fish is set free.
Once they have samples of sperm from several fish, it’s time to harvest some eggs from the females.
Next the fertilized eggs go into bags to be transported in coolers to the hatchery. They will be raised there until they are about the size of your hand.
Raising fish in a hatchery helps the dwindling stocks of sturgeon in the river, but it doesn’t do anything to address their loss of spawning habitat. Fortunately, someone is working on that problem as well.
I meet Ben Lenz, an environmental scientist with the New York Power Authority. He is part of a team that installed an experimental spawning bed for sturgeon, paid for by the power authority.
We’re diving close to a dam, in extremely fast moving water. This dive can be quite tricky as the current is too strong to swim against. We’ll have to jump into the water upstream from the spawning bed and drift down until we get to it. We’ll need to get lucky to hit the spawning bed.
The New York Power Authority created this spawning bed by dumping tons and tons of crushed rocks onto a fast-moving section of water to simulate the conditions of rapids. They hoped it would encourage the sturgeon to spawn.
As we approach the beds, I start to see sturgeon everywhere. Using remote cameras towed by boats, scientists learned that sturgeon come to the beds at certain times of the year, but nobody has ever seen them actually spawning. This sturgeon is eating the algae from the rocks.
Many of the sturgeon have lampreys on them. These primitive fish are like vampires, attaching themselves to a sturgeon and living off its blood.
A glance between the rocks shows definitely evidence of spawning: sturgeon eggs! This is why they are sticky, to cling between the rocks in the current.
I can hear a strange sound. It sounds like clunking or vibrating. I suspect it’s coming from the fish, but I can’t see it. Are the fish fighting?
I fight my way upstream. Then just ahead of me, it happens! The male vibrates his body against the female. Then he releases his sperm just as the female releases her eggs! The fish are spawning!
Sperm clouds the water, fertilizing the eggs. And the eggs sink to the bottom and stick.
The sound comes from the male hitting the rocks on the bottom as his body shakes! So every time I hear that sound, I know that somewhere nearby, a pair is spawning. And I hear it a lot! The spawning grounds definitely work!

[@rummugtheorc1675]

Caught one as a teenager, I had no idea what it was. Luckily I had the good sense to toss him back, unharmed.

[@TheVideogamesfinest]

Rum Mug the Orc Dang Johnathan loved your comment and this vid is like 2 years old. This shows that he must really pay attention to his fans.

[@toyforest4581]

Sturgeons are long-lived, late-maturing fishes with distinctive characteristics, such as a heterocercal caudal fin similar to that of sharks, and an elongated spindle-like body that is smooth-skinned, scaleless and armored with 5 lateral rows of bony plates called scutes. Several species can grow quite large, typically ranging 7-12 feet (2-3½ m) in length. The largest sturgeon on record was a Beluga female captured in the Volga estuary in 1827, weighing 1,571 kg (3,463 lb) and 7.2 m (24 ft) long.

[@pennilaineong8180]

Toy Forest you wrote a lot 🤯

[@akankshashinde7877]

Waw..intresting info

[@kboutdoorspnw3147]

Another fun fact. Sturgeon typically take a out 20 years to reach the 6ft length. So based on that, that fish was 120+ years old at the time!

[@twistednateproductions8136]

Before I had this channel I've watched a lot and I finally remembered what your channel is it brought my love for your channel back

[@markmoore7042]

Ive seen one in my life, coolest thing by far ive ever reeled in, i felt bad even catching it but it was released perfectly i need to start carrying a book with me to log fish like these

[@louieebueng2577]

sturgeons are magnificent fish

[@jamesbreeden3061]

I actually had a baby one as a pet when I was a kid. Believe it on not, I bought it at the Walmart pet fish dept. It was the only one in the take and I don't know how it got there. I think it was mistakenly shipped to the store. The Walmart employee thought it was an algae eater. I study fish and knew that it was a sturgeon. The Walmart employee was clueless.

[@BlueWorldTV]

Wow how big was it?

[@marcusaurelius652]

Hahahaha oh yes

[@edwardfiorvante6123]

Beautiful

[@mrsmoonjelly9522]

I can't wait for their reaction when they realise they were adopted

[@zepter00]

You were adopted either.

[@iscuba556]

This is the channle that made me get scuba certified

[@BlueWorldTV]

Sweet!

[@DuckiBoiHasPizza]

are

[@cabdibakaal6140]

Asla

[@Ninihalima]

Thank you

[@idrishali8366]

L

[@Alessandro-tq9ed]

wow this channel makes my day watching old and new videos every day

[@steen275]

sturgeon is a fun fish to catch, they grow so big. just let it out again

[@KatGlos]

Or, just don't catch it in the first place. Leave the poor fish alone and do something useful.

[@steen275]

+Katie its ok animals eat pray alive but its wrong when We catch Them and let Them out again?

[@KatGlos]

steen275 Yes, because they're doing it to survive, people are doing it for fun.

[@jacektv9182]

Leave the Fish alone!!!!!!!!!!

[@Bluewolf2016]

“What can I do to help??” “Here hold the egg bowl” I laughed too hard just watching him hold the bowl

[@BlueWorldTV]

It was pretty gross!

[@RylandLier]

Lol yes

[@anamampusti6897]

I like the victory dance

[@joey5446]

Love you guys! 💙🐟🐬🐡🐳🐠🐋

[@paully069]

This is Fantastic , I hope they create many more of this site's . As Always a great video !

[@missblissfabulous5967]

At first I thought the caviar were chocolate..lol

[@andyfriederichsen]

Anyone else think Sturgeon are cute? Because I think they are :3

[@blizzard7286]

+Andy F. Yeah i see where you are coming form

[@sushilkm1]

Actually Indian people are the one who are polutting the world and they don't care about animals.......yeah really I have visited india and they are very greedy for money because of their importance for property, world is being polluted and many species are dying in current time....

[@amaecu1999]

ME TOOO 💕

[@peanutsplayhouseventriloqu8741]

whats even cuter than adult sturgeon? baby sturgeon!!!!

[@sudeshnachakraborty7542]

@@sushilkm1 Sturgeon aren't from India...it's not only Indian..Human have to be responsible...not only indians

[@marksaid6587]

Great one! Love it.

[@Gentamoru]

I was eating when the sperm scene showed up 😖

[@HavocMonkey]

Haahhaaahha😂

[@redmr2na]

I can imagine you started chewing slower. Kind of like what Stewie did on Family Guy when Peter tells the family that not all the bottles in the fridge are milk but in fact horse sperm. He stops eating for a brief moment then as he processes the fact that he just poured horse sperm on his cereal. Then continues to eat, but at a much slower pace.

[@akankshashinde7877]

😂😂

[@DuckiBoiHasPizza]

Ngl it looks like fish being milked

[@yankncrankoutdoors2374]

St Lawrence River whooooooo!!!!!!! Massena New York!

[@FranciscoSanchez-mp5tz]

My son studys about the ocean and knows a lot already and is also trying to save the ocean too

[@chanchohuligancho7411]

the river current looks very strong

[@BlueWorldTV]

Yes, it was a challenge!

[@miragex2256]

It's sad to know that people almost wiped out such cool animal all those years ago just because they thought of them as a pest, But i'm relived and very happy that people these days are doing whatever they can to bring more of them back again.

[@seikibrian8641]

"It's sad to know that people almost wiped out such cool animal all those years ago just because they thought of them as a pest..." No, the near extinction came as a result of over-harvesting them for caviar. No longer seen as pests, but as money-makers.

[@kingjroger5135]

Theres some sturgeon in lake winnipeg too, but they look spinier and more bony

[@torn5689]

*STUUURGEON*

[@christopherrowe8968]

i love it

[@strikeoplays]

I wonder what happened to the poor sturgeons tail at 13:00

[@jadenrhys_4987]

13:01 the sturgeon has a half tail

[@joannastgeorge5499]

We've got 4 sturgeons in our pond. They are always hungry...

[@aiqimi]

Best Video Ever

[@ohmsworld3831]

Appreciate💕💕

[@haseenansari8401]

Ggyhhh

[@mirzasaimamahmud5621]

Your videos are terrific

[@americanallthewayredneck3917]

I love st Lawrence river diving..I prefer it over lake ontario..

[@굼라크]

amazing films!

[@MichaelAngelo-yh3bc]

they could have used a solar panel of many meters so it would a great advantage to the sturgeon a or use wind mell if the area is windy or anywhere windy

[@RusTsea196T]

Sturgeon stories of alien abduction

[@granskare]

the only caviar I had was in a BEA flight from Libya to Rome, nice stuff :)

[@israelramirez9725]

All I visited video are year 😂 but I njoy watching it

[@zarnialockwood1009]

it's cool

[@joycesheenlim3820]

Avid fan here. 🙌

[@doreenhesterberg7144]

Ist das ein Fisch, Namens "Stör" 👍✌️💖

[@KorKhan89]

In der Tat

[@moritzlp2441]

It's nice

[@moalzaben5554]

4:24 thank god that is only fishing for saving these fish

[@dougdooling5632]

Did you try to remove the lampreys, or is that interfering with nature?

[@t-rexstudioproductions781]

Sturgeons have been around a hundred and million years since the time of the Dinosaurs

[@ФаезаЗайн]

Jonathen:Man Vs Marine.😊😊😊

[@AnilKumar-ps1kp]

I really love Americans, like you Sir...!

[@MZUNUSUAL]

Humans the destructor of all living things

[@frankjones8295]

The Sturgeon is a living fossil!?

[@viviplayzroblox3584]

Are those vampiurs fish ever going to die?

[@htmsyt2364]

How old are they?

[@rcs243]

👍

[@TWOCOWS1]

how close are these to the famous sturgeons in the Caspian Sea (the source of the real caviar)?

[@BlueWorldTV]

Very similar.

[@TWOCOWS1]

thanks

[@TWOCOWS1]

thanks. the caspian sturgeons also get enormous, but still have to spaun in the clear and fast moving rivers. thatz why they r losing out too

[@christinaherrera2861]

That was a lot of eggs

[@christinaherrera2861]

.

[@MoonrunesNumbaWonton]

?

[@lucasrod596]

+Christina Herrera WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING

[@viviplayzroblox3584]

Are thosevam

[@shahsultanmahmud519]

সুপার,

[@EgbertAllen]

jeremy wade actually catch a giant surtgeon you can watch it in river monster

[@sameerdeep5167]

VT by VT cry 6

[@gorillagaming1042]

How did you discover sturgeon Jonathan and how can you tell it’s a male or a female 🤨🤨

[@BlueWorldTV]

I discovered the sturgeon because my good friends David Doubilet and Jen Hayes invited me to come and learn about them. They are the experts.

[@justgang6994]

they can have egg by there own natural, thats why they created wild, ,,,..

[@jenniferlim5888]

Is harming the fish the baby wanted to live with their parents

[@punalson7856]

increase all the animal

[@carisasurya4862]

poor stugeons have lamprey on them =(

[@blue_jai2790]

Have you ever eaten seafood? Like as a kid or something? I’m just wondering cause you always say that you don’t eat seafood because fish are friends, not food. I agree with you, of course, I’m just wondering

[@BlueWorldTV]

I do not eat seafood. In the past I have tried some seafood, but at this point in my life I am completely against eating seafood because it is not sustainably produced.

[@blue_jai2790]

That's the same way I feel! My parents don't think I'm old enough to make that kind of decision not to eat seafood (I'm twelve). I told them that fish are friends, not food, and they were just like, "Really? Not all seafood is fish." Do you think I should be able to make that decision?

[@marwijikasanpawirow9027]

You know that fish is gonna be extinct

[@BunkerBlog]

Luckily, no. Not this species at least. However, there are unfortunately a handful of species that have gone extinct.

[@catherinesloan5489]

?

[@BlueWorldTV]

+Catherine Sloan ??????

[@janejan9728]

The artificial method leaves out selective breeding. It seems that in the spawning video they are supposed to choose a mate that meets their standard of attraction, health, and vitality. When something is that old, you shouldn't mess with it's method of reproduction. Will these randomly bred fish have the appropriate DNA to survive through multiple generations? The artificially fertilized eggs and sperm might be coming from specimens that would not have bred successfully in the wild...

[@BlueWorldTV]

You are right, but in this case I think it's better than nothing. Let's get some baby sturgeon out there to grow up and do their thing.

[@ziyad8297]

Fyhv

[@albertol9654]

Hey I'm rich.. so I eat fish eggs?? Ok weirdo.

[@flamefree2]

Could you please not mention the millions of years theory unless you say "theory". I dont know if i can keep watching your programs with those dishonest mentions. I dont mind if you believe that they have been around that long, just say theory. Its honest. No one has observed this fish that many years ago, so it moves into the realm of theory.

[@suicune690]

You're misunderstanding the meaning of the term "theory". In science, a theory is a collection of facts that support a single conclusion, like Germ Theory, Atomic Theory, etc. A scientific theory is not a wild guess.

[@JustDoinFlorida]

It's called fossils. It's not a theory. Go to science class. They use radioactive dating to determine the age of the rock that the fossil is buried in, hence how they know how long sturgeon have been around

[@jasonmills9158]

True sturgeon have been found in the fossil record dating to the Upper Cretaceous, around 100 million years ago. Their predecessors, the Acipenseriform fishes, appear in the fossil record dating some 245 million years ago. So yes, they have been around for millions of years. That's science, and directly observed.

[@seikibrian8641]

+ suicune690 -- Yep. It appalling how many people don't know the difference between a theory and a hypothesis.

[@michaelpaliden6660]

it seems many people say it like it was a fact because it's so deeply ingrained but it is addenanel unnecessary words.

[@elaineb7065]

Warms the heart to see a hydro-electric company realising the cost of what they do & fixing it for the sturgeon (& other fish by the sound of it). Glad to know of such projects!!!

[@warrenbuchanan2718]

the sturgeon is my favorite fish , after the whale shark , they are the largest freshwater fish and i like them because they are an ancient creature , one of the very oldest . they were probably around before the dinosaurs

[@gasmask9157]

Araipima are the largest freshwater fish

[@blue_jai2790]

I don’t know why, but I love this video so much! I think I’ve watched it about fourteen times now (yes I’ve been counting lol), and I’m still not bored! It might be because it restores my faith in humanity, like Jonathan says at the end. I know that if people put their minds to it, they can fix what they’ve broken. That’s why my KZbin name is Save Our Seas. People can do that. Thanks for this awesome video, Jonathan!

[@edwardfiorvante6123]

We can fix what was broken in a decade or maybe 2. Take the defense budgets of all big nations and say 25 percent goes to environment. 10 years maybe 20 all GOOD

[@graysoceanworld5662]

There are sturgeons in the Suwannee River that grow to 8 ft long

[@BlueWorldTV]

Really?? Wow!

[@Jiffy360]

At the same time, they figured out a way to collect caviar without harming the fish, meaning that it's renewable too!

[@JadeYueRyu1]

Caviar companies have known this forever actually. Unfortunately they have no interest in actually taking the time (or money) to use this technique and let the fish swim off. For them it is much cheaper to just slaughter them. :(

[@wolfiestfamily495]

They still harm the fish it cant reproduce

[@shersinghrajathan4229]

Lp

[@jwhmerica504]

The rich will always Rape the land.

[@axolenne__7741]

sturgeons are awesome! in the shedd aquarium my sister and i were able to touch sturgeons in a tank!!! the water was cold. the sturgeon was very slimy tho.

[@juliaweber5026]

Minatoes Arisatonsil interesting I thought they were boney and they look like they have a hard shell

[@muhamadamirulhafiz2852]

Hopefully, the sturgeons will be saved completely from extinction!

[@iamtiffany4411]

The victory dance is cute 😊

[@hawssie1]

Little guys, I didn't know they had such a small species of Sturgeon in the U.S. The White,Black and Green Sturgeons we have in the West Coast, at the largest can grow 20 feet long and close to a ton.

[@BlueWorldTV]

Whoa!

[@classifieddude5628]

Bro he said this was in Canada not US

[@jztouch]

So cool you got to catch sturgeon spawning there. It’s awesome when people can come together and make a difference like that for animals and you proved it’s working!

[@thesenate4743]

Some of them get ~8 feet long and over ton.....ive seen a 7.2 one in a biologist Aquarium, absolutely majestic and calm creatures

[@Sherwoody]

I just had a brief encounter with one this past week in the Niagara River. It was around 6ft long. The current was really strong and we just couldn’t keep up with it.

[@lidu5622]

is it just me or the sturgeons look like catfish? BTW I love your vids

[@juliaweber5026]

li Du yes they do but boney which is rare

[@crystalbaerwaldt2075]

Sturgeon are the biggest reason I'm going into my field of study. I don't what it is about them, but ever since I discovered they were a thing, I have loved them so deeply it hurts. They fill me with so much joy. 10000000/ 10 best fish ever. Acipenseriformes fans of the world unite!

[@Tedminat0r]

Yuck, Caviar D: Amazing video, it's so cool how the sturgeon can adapt to the new conditions as well as they do! (And that their wannabe fish humans help them ^-^)

[@shesgreen4544]

This is heartwarming. Glad to know that amidst all the chaos caused by humans and global warming, out there are people trying their best to fix things. Hope is not lost! 💓💓💓

[@Alpha-xt6ow]

I like the introductions when he says " I am Jonathan Bird, welcome to my world"🤣

[@Ferinm]

He says Hi, I am Jonathan Bird and welcome to my world😊😊

[@FATmonkeyCHRIS]

Found your channel looking for Blue Heron Bridge footage and have been binging your wonderful video's all day since. Thanks so much. okay. break's over. got to check out the alewife run.

[@alchemist5795]

pls. save this kind of acient fish

[@kevinechols7971]

7:03 ooh babey! Lol 😂

[@lewislawson5461]

They've got loads of sturgeon in my local inland dive sites and apparently an albino! Fantastic footage Jonathan.

[@kennchristopher2865]

ok, what are the fish good for? (don't take this the wrong way I think all endangered animals should be saved) I am doing a school project and I need to do shortnose sturgeons i have written they help by eating algae but i need one more thing.

[@BlueWorldTV]

Nothing needs to be useful to humans in order to have a right to survive.

[@kennchristopher2865]

I understand that you understand that my school does not understand that :(

[@jacektv9182]

@@BlueWorldTV yes

[@learningwithtara6148]

Great work... They are so charming

[@heyitsannielimmer2116]

Save the sturgeons!!! like if you agree

[@gavinmin7144]

Lampreys can be also found in salmonoid species not just sturgeons. And caviar can be also found in female flying fish not just female sturgoens.🐟🐟🐠🐠☿☿☿☿

[@Herowebcomics]

WOW! it is awesome to see all the work you are doing to help replenish these fish!

[@masonandsharkdawnofherosan4352]

Your gonna laugh about this you know Stergeon seem to have them noses or holes on them and I thought those were the eyes of the sturgeon but no

[@t-rexstudioproductions781]

And now sturgeons are still around today it was known as a Living Fossil

[@richardcurrin8940]

This is so awesome. I have designed some aquaculture facilities and a colleague I worked with was involved with sturgeon facilities. One was on the same property as a building I designed. Those are some prehistoric looking fish. The problem with getting caviar is it usually results in the death of the female when collected the traditional way. I know some work has been done to collect the eggs without killing the fish but I have been out of that loop a few years

[@graysoceanworld5662]

Did you know that lake sturgeon have been reintroduced in the Coosa River and Etowah River?

[@BlueWorldTV]

Did not know that!

[@edwardfiorvante6123]

Oh and if we do that we also create a better environment for humans!

[@blue_jai2790]

Hey Jonathan, I like writing books about sea life. (I’m hoping I can get some published). I’m currently working on a book called SOS Save Our Seas (haha that’s my KZbin name). It’s about how humans affect sea life and the oceans. I’m doing different parts with different animals (e.g. part one is a stingray named Eliza). I want to do one about sturgeon. Is it okay if the sturgeon character uses your last few lines from this video? I will DEFINITELY put you in the acknowledgments even if I can’t use your last lines. And, don’t feel bad if you say I can’t use them. It’s okay. I can find another way to say it.

[@americanallthewayredneck3917]

Did a drift dive miles above niagra falls in the niagra river and did see a sturgeon..The river is arpund 20 feet deep and very clear..The current is not too stiff ..