The sturgeon dates as far back as the Cretaceous period 150 million years ago. Sturgeon swim low along the river bottom, their hanging whiskers looking for food, sturgeon suck up benthic molluscs, worm, gastropods, and other inhabitants of sediment. During spring and summer in the Chesapeake, these bottom habitats that are often lacking in oxygen, making it very hard for the sturgeon to find food. If they aren't netted by commercial and recreational fishermen before maturity, females are often harvested at first maturity for their valuable roe. Even when the sturgeon do reach maturity, they produce a small number of eggs, about ten times fewer than the number of eggs produced by striped bass or shad.
Sturgeon deposit their large, sticky eggs on hard surfaces.
Siltation of bottom habitats and the loss of submerged aquatic vegetation have reduced the areas that sturgeon need to successfully reproduce. There is no evidence of reproduction in Bay waters in more than 20 years.