The Atlantic sturgeon, an imperiled bottom-dwelling fish in the Chesapeake Bay, has been declared an endangered species.

The designation means the rarely seen sturgeon will be afforded greater protection in hopes of preventing them from becoming extinct.

“The federal government is giving this remarkable fish a fighting chance to live on into the 21st century,” said Brad Sewell, an attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, a national environmental group that petitioned to add sturgeon to the Endangered Species List.

Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus) look much as they did during the Jurassic period, 150 million years ago. The dark gray fish has a long snout, flat belly and armor-like “scutes” on its back.

One of the Chesapeake’s few large bottom-dwelling fish, the sturgeon gobbles worms, shellfish, mollusks, soft-shell clams, shrimp and small fish in its vacuumlike mouth. The largest sturgeon recorded in Maryland was 14 feet long and weighed 811 pounds.

Sturgeon were overfished in the late 1800s and early 1900s as diners sought the female sturgeon’s eggs, or roe, which were prized for caviar.

The population collapsed and never recovered, as sturgeon take a long time to reach sexual maturity – 10 to 15 years – and spawn only every three years.

Catching sturgeon has been illegal for years, but the population has not rebounded. Federal officials have considered putting Atlantic sturgeon on the Endangered Species List several times over the past two decades.

A species can be declared endangered based on overfishing, destruction of its habitat, inadequate regulations to protect it, or other natural or human factors that harm the population.

2012 | Capital Gazette Communications LLC