Pallid Sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) Free Embryo Drift and Dispersal Experiment Associated with the Fort Peck Dam Flow Test in the Upper Missouri River, Montana, June 2024

The data set contains sampling and catch data associated with an experiment to examine dispersal and short-term survival of endangered pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) free embryos in the Missouri River of eastern Montana. The experiment was conducted as part of a flow test from Fort Peck Dam, when warm surface water from Fort Peck reservoir was released over the spillway to improve environmental conditions for pallid sturgeon. On 20240626, an estimated 354,000 1-day post-hatch (dph) pallid sturgeon free embryos produced from hatchery broodstock were released in the warm plume of the spillway, and recaptured at sites 3.9- and 8.4-miles downstream. The free embryos were sampled using multiple boats and crews at the sites, where sampling for the free embryos was conducted adjacent to the riverbed (bottom samples) and in the middle of the water column (mid-water samples). The data set includes sample site location information; site-, boat-, and time-specific catches for the released pallid sturgeon free embryos; length estimates for the free embryos; and parental crosses used to produce the free embryos.