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Seascape Connectivity Of Gulf Sturgeon Acipenser Oxyrinchus Desotoi Population Units Across The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Page E. Vick, Mark S. Peterson, William T. Slack

Faculty Publications

Critical habitat was designated in 2003 for federally threatened anadromous Gulf sturgeon to aid in population recovery. This study examined overwintering Gulf sturgeon spatial use and movement through critical habitat monitored by the Ship Island acoustic array from 2011 to 2015. Previous studies observed western population Gulf sturgeon (Pearl and Pascagoula rivers) overwintering near the ends and within the passes of the barrier islands of the Mississippi Sound, USA. Recent telemetry studies detected eastern population fish (Escambia, Blackwater, Yellow, and Choctawhatchee rivers) overwintering as far west as Mobile Bay, Alabama; however, this study is the first to observe eastern population …