Author Archives: Emily Pherigo

About Emily Pherigo

Emily is no longer with the Comprehensive Sturgeon Research Project. When she was here, she was a biologist contracted to the Comprehensive Sturgeon Research Project. Most of her time was spent at a computer performing QA/QC on data or updating figures and graphs most used by Aaron DeLonay. However, she occasionally made it to the river, where she enjoyed seeing pallid sturgeon and was reminded why she entered the natural resources field.

Which came first, the sturgeon or the egg?

Posted on October 4, 2011 by Emily Pherigo

While the Comprehensive Sturgeon Research Project (CSRP) at the USGS Columbia Environmental Research Center (CERC) is focused on pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) and the closely-related shovelnose sturgeon (S. platorynchus), the CERC also conducts behavioral, physiological and toxicological research on other … Continue reading →

Posted in Larval Sampling, Sturgeon culture and propagation, Uncategorized | Tagged , |

Down the Wide Missouri

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Emily Pherigo

With the spawning season behind us and the intensive Comprehensive Sturgeon Research Project (CSRP) telemetry tracking effort completed, the tracking crews change their focus from following reproductive adults and locating spawning sites to characterizing post-spawn and non-reproductive habitat of pallid … Continue reading →

Posted in River Sweep, Tracking, Uncategorized |

Island living

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Emily Pherigo

Columbia Environmental Research Center (CERC) crews assisted USGS biologist Pat Braaten and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologist Jason Rhoten in examining pallid sturgeon on the Yellowstone River from June 29 through July 8.  Various pallid sturgeon were located and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized, Yellowstone River |

Did she or didn’t she?

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Emily Pherigo

When the spring spawning migration finally ends and the tagged female is recaptured, all is not over.  The question on everyone’s mind is, “Did she spawn, or didn’t she?” Using a portable ultrasound unit similar to those used in modern … Continue reading →

Posted in Recapture, Reproductive Female, Uncategorized | Tagged , , |

It’s hard enough to catch a pallid sturgeon once, but twice?!

Posted on July 15, 2011 by Emily Pherigo

  Any fisherman will tell you that just knowing where a fish is located is not enough to catch it.  If it were, we would call it “catching” instead of “fishing.”   Recapturing telemetry tagged pallid sturgeon takes skill, experience, hard work, … Continue reading →

Posted in Methods, Recapture, Uncategorized |

Path of least resistance?

Posted on June 29, 2011 by Emily Pherigo

  USGS hydrologists and biologists joined with biologists from Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks to radio track pallid sturgeon as they navigated the Yellowstone River during late May and Early June.  Following one fish over the course of a day … Continue reading →

Posted in Habitat mapping, Uncategorized, Yellowstone River | Tagged |

Yellowstone pathways

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Emily Pherigo

Over the past couple of weeks, biologists from the USGS and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks have been tracking pallid sturgeon in the Yellowstone River while USGS hydrologists map their habitats.  This pallid sturgeon population has access to the Missouri … Continue reading →

Posted in Habitat mapping, Uncategorized, Yellowstone River | Tagged , , |

A Missouri River delicacy

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Emily Pherigo

Fairy shrimp are small crustaceans only distantly related to lobsters, crabs, and the shrimp we commonly find on our dinner tables.  Most species are rather small, seldom larger than an inch in length.  Adapted to temporary habitats, fairy shrimp eggs … Continue reading →

Posted in Flooding, Larval Sampling, Uncategorized | Tagged , |

Day old sturgeon caught in Lower Missouri River

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Emily Pherigo

Biologists sampled a suspected pallid sturgeon spawning site approximately 4 miles up the James River from its confluence with the Missouri River in South Dakota on May 12 and 13.  Two days of sampling resulted in the collection of 84 larval paddlefish, … Continue reading →

Posted in Larval Sampling, Uncategorized | Tagged , , |

Searching for a needle in a haystack

Posted on June 14, 2011 by Emily Pherigo

Female pallid sturgeon with eggs are very rare on the Lower Missouri River.  When one spawns she will release as few as 8,000 to 20,000 eggs over a 12 to 36 hour period.  Those eggs are released in swift water … Continue reading →

Posted in Larval Sampling | Tagged , |