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Pisces

Shortnose Sturgeon Acipenser brevirostrum

This species is an uncommon-to-rare, declining sturgeon of tidal portions of rivers. At a maximum length of 109 cm, adults do not attain the great size of some of the related species. The shortnose sturgeon is native to the Atlantic seaboard from New Brunswick, Canada, south to the St. Johns River, Florida; thus, the Altamaha is near the southern terminus of this species' range. Here, the limiting factor of abundance may be the summer temperature of the water, and the availability of cool deepwater holes within which the species congregates during the hottest weather. Thus, siltation and anthropogenic changes in hydrology may affect shortnose sturgeon numbers.

The Altamaha may harbor one of the last viable wild populations of this species. Shortnose sturgeons have been recorded four times in the Darien and Altamaha Sound quads; the only known summer concentration occurs on the former quad. These locations are within McIntosh and Glynn counties, in brackish estuarine waters. This species has not been recorded further upriver at its spawning grounds.