Shovelnose Sturgeon
At a glance
- Name: shovelnose sturgeon, Scaphirhynchus platorynchus, also called hackleback, switchtail or sand sturgeon
- Native to: the Missouri and Mississippi rivers
- Remember it by: it is the smallest sturgeon in North America
- Our caviar from this fish: Hackleback
The story
The shovelnose is America's own small sturgeon. It is the most plentiful sturgeon in the Missouri and Mississippi river systems. It rarely grows past 30 inches or 5 pounds, and it is the smallest North American member of the sturgeon family.
Its name comes from its flat, spade-shaped snout. The barbels beneath are fringed, and the upper tip of the tail trails a long, thin filament that often breaks off as the fish grows older. Its skin is said to feel rough, like a cat's tongue.
It keeps to open, flowing river channels over sand and gravel and can travel a long way. One was recorded covering 560 miles. It also plays a quiet part in the life of the river, as the only known host for the young of the hickorynut mussel.
Status in the wild
The IUCN lists the shovelnose sturgeon as Vulnerable. Since 2010, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has treated it as threatened where it shares the river with the endangered pallid sturgeon, because the two are so hard to tell apart.
From this fish
Our Hackleback comes from shovelnose sturgeon from the United States.
Small fish, distinctly American caviar. Taste our Hackleback.