Its body color is generally olive-yellow to gray or bluish on the back, and milky white to dark yellow on the belly. Its scutes are pale and contrast with its background. While much is still not fully understood about the spawning behavior and early life stages of the shortnose sturgeon, a few facts are known. The shortnose sturgeon is semi-anadromous. Each year, between April and May, adult sturgeon migrate up the Hudson River from their mid-Hudson overwintering area to spawn in freshwater sites north of Coxsackie.
Males spawn every other year and females every third year.
Eggs are deposited and hatch in approximately 13 days. The newly-hatched fry are poor swimmers and drift with the currents along the bottom. As they grow and mature, the fish move downriver into the most brackish waters of the lower Hudson. Like all sturgeon, shortnose sturgeon are long-lived. The oldest known female was 67 years old and the oldest known male was 32.