The Atlantic, Acipenser oxyrhynchus , and shortnose, Acipenser brevirostrum , sturgeons have been utilized as a high-quality food fish and as a source of caviar since colonial days. Both species are distributed as far south as Florida, but the Atlantic sturgeon is found as far north as Labrador, Canada whereas the shortnose sturgeon ranges only to New Brunswick, Canada. Sturgeon once supported a substantial commercial fishery, but like other anadromous species, their populations were adversely affected by industrial use of rivers beginning in the 1800s and by overfishing. Today, the lack of fish passage facilities at dams and poor habitat conditions continue to stand as impediments to the re-establishment of many sturgeon populations. The basic life history patterns for the two species are very similar, but there are important differences in distribution and migration that serve to minimize habitat overlap.
Sturgeons are relatively slow growing fish.
Both species begin spawning migrations to freshwater during late winter to early summer. The migrations occur later in the year at higher latitudes, and where the species co-occur, the shortnose sturgeon tends to begin its spawning migrations earlier than the Atlantic sturgeon. Juvenile sturgeon remain in freshwater for their first summer of life and then migrate to deeper, more brackish water in winter. The juveniles migrate to and from freshwater for a number of years before entering the marine environment and joining the adult migration pattern. Migrations out of freshwater are well known for the Atlantic sturgeon, but have only been recently documented for the rarer shortnose sturgeon.