Observations of survival and hatch of developing pallid sturgeon embryos in relation to experimental substrate and sediment cover

This dataset documents the number of normally developed hatched free embryos, abnormally developed hatched free embryos, and viable unhatched embryos from two laboratory trials (shovelnose sturgeon during April and pallid sturgeon during May 2016) in substrate conditions designed to simulate potential fates within a dynamic riverine environment. Trials were performed with substrate treatments that consisted of clean glass (control), gravel, medium-coarse sand, and fine sand-silt. Medium-coarse sand and fine sand-silt substrates were each tested three ways: unburied, partially buried, and fully buried (1–2 millimeter depth). Pallid sturgeon and shovelnose sturgeon embryos were exposed to trial conditions from the day of fertilization until day 10 of incubation.