Scaphirhynchus suttkusi Williams & Clemmer, 1991:19
Alabama sturgeon
Taxonomy & Nomenclature
Conservation Status
Globally Rediscovered
Last record (wild): 2007 (male captured, transponder attached); June 2009 (transponder ceased relaying information)
Last record (captivity): 2013
Rediscovered in: 2015 (Kuhajda & Rider, 2016)
IUCN RedList status: Critically Endangered
Distribution & Habitat
Alabama, USA
Biology & Ecology
Hypodigm
Media
References
Original scientific description:
Williams, J. D. and Clemmer, G. H. (1991). Scaphirhynchus suttkusi, a new sturgeon (Pisces: Acipenseridae) from the Mobile Basin of Alabama and Mississippi. Bulletin of the Alabama Museum of Natural History 10: 17-31.
Other references:
ADCNR (Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources), U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Alabama-Tombigbee Rivers Coalition. (2000). Conservation agreement and strategy for the Alabama sturgeon, Scaphirhynchus suttkusi. Montgomery, Al. 32 pp.
Anonymous. (2001). The Alabama Sturgeon, One Year Later (Riffles). American Currents.
Anonymous. (2002). Last Known Alabama Sturgeon Dies in Captivity (Riffles). American Currents.
Atchison, D. (1999). Sturgeon stir debate at public meeting. Montgomery Advertiser 27 June 1999: 10E.
Baillie, J. and Groombridge, B. (eds). (1996). 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. pp. 378. International Union for Conservation of Nature, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
Brumas, M. (1999). Sturgeon tissue test probe. Birmingham News 15 Sept. 1999: 1C, 3C.
Burke, J. S. and Ramsey, J. S. (1985). Status survey on the Alabama shovel nose sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus sp. cf. platorynchus) in the Mobile Bay drainage. Unpublished report. Submitted to U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Jackson, Mississippi. 61 pp.
Deacon, James E., Kobetich, Gail, Williams, James D. and Contreras, Salvador. (1979). Fishes of North America endangered, threatened, or of special concern: 1979. Fisheries 4(2): 29-44.
Finch, B. (1999). Alabamians very concerned. Mobile Register 11 July 1999. (http://www.al.com/news/mobile).
Finch, B. (2000). Sturgeon fallout: group drops conservation backing. Mobile Register 5 May 2000. (http://www.al.com/news/mobile).
Groombridge, B. (ed.). (1994). 1994 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
Haxton, T. J., Sulak, K. and Hildebrand, L. (2016). Status of scientific knowledge of North American sturgeons. Journal of Applied Ichthyology. DOI: 10.1111/jai.13235 [Abstract]
Hilliard, E. F. (1999). Congressman Earl F. Hilliard speaks out on the listing of the Alabama sturgeon as an endangered species. Press release. 24 June 1999. (http://www.house.gov/hilliard/pr_990624_endangered_species.htm).
Holmes, Branden. (2021). What's Lost and What Remains: The Sixth Extinction in 100 Accounts (eBook). Self published.
IUCN. (1990). 1990 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK.
Janosik, Alexis M. et al. (2021). Improved environmental DNA sampling scheme for Alabama sturgeon provides new insight into a species once presumed extinct. Journal of Applied Ichthyology 37(2): 178-185. [Abstract]
Jelks, Howard L., Walsh, Stephen J., Burkhead, Noel M., Contreras-Balderas, Salvador, Díaz-Pardo, Edmundo, Hendrickson, Dean A., Lyons, J., Mandrak, Nicholas E., McCormick, Frank, Nelson, Joseph F., Platania, Steven P., Porter, Brady A., Renaud, Claude B., Schmitter-Soto, Juan Jacabo, Taylor, Eric B. and Warren, Melvin L. Jr. (2008). Conservation status of imperiled North American freshwater and diadromous fishes. Fisheries 33(8): 372-407.
Kuhajda, B. R. and Rider, S. J. (2016). Status of the Imperiled Alabama Sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus suttkusi Williams and Clemmer, 1991). Journal of Applied Ichthyology. doi:10.1111/jai.13237 [Abstract]
Kuhajda, B. R. and Rider, S. J. (2022). Scaphirhynchus suttkusi. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2022: e.T19942A81759618. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-1.RLTS.T19942A81759618.en. Accessed on 08 April 2025.
Lott, T. (1999). The Alabama sturgeon. Congressional Record 1 July 1999: S8065-S8066.
Mayden, R. L. and Kuhajda, B. R. (1996). Systematics, taxonomy, and conservation status of the endangered Alabama sturgeon, Scaphirhynchus suttkusi Williams and Clemmer (Actinopterygii, Acipenseridae). Copeia 1996(2): 241-273.
Mayden, R. L. and Kuhajda, B. R. (1997). Threatened fishes of the world: Scaphirhynchus suttkusi Williams & Clemmer, 1991 (Acipenseridae). Environmental Biology of Fishes 48: 418-419.
Mitchell, G. (2000). Alabama sturgeon now has federal protection. Associated Press State and Local Wire. 3 May 2000.
Pace, D. (1999). Alabama lawmakers blast administration plan to declare sturgeon endangered. Associated Press State and Local Wire. 24 June 1999.
Parauka, F. M. (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service). (2004). Scaphirhynchus suttkusi. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2004: e.T19942A9111703. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2004.RLTS.T19942A9111703.en. Downloaded on 15 October 2016.
Scharpf, Christopher. (2000). Politics, Science, and the Fate of the Alabama Sturgeon. American Currents 26(3): 6-14.
Shelby, R. (1999). Shelby critical of Alabama sturgeon’s listing as endangered species. Press release. 24 March 1999. (http://www.senate.gov/~shelby/press/prsrs252.htm).
Sznajderman, M. (1999). Sturgeon proposal brings out opponents. Birmingham News 25 June 1999: 1B, 5B.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (1999a). Endangered and threatened wildlife and plants; proposed rule to list the Alabama sturgeon as endangered. Federal Register 64 (58) [26 March 1999]: 14676-14685.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (1999b). Questions and answers: proposed listing of the Alabama sturgeon. Press release. 23 June 1999. (http://www.fws.gov/r4eao/visit/r99-058.html).
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (2000a). Alabama Sturgeon Conservation Plan. 2000. Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Alabama-Tombigbee Rivers Coalition.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (2000b). Alabama sturgeon to receive federal protection under Endangered Species Act. Press release. 2 May 2000. (http://southeast.fws.gov/news/2000/r00-014.html).
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (2000c). Endangered and threatened wildlife and plants; final rule to list the Alabama sturgeon as endangered. Federal Register 65 (88) [5 May 2000]: 26438-26461.
Vaughan, R. (1995). State of extinction: the case of the Alabama sturgeon and ways opponents to the E.S.A. thwart protection for rare species. Alabama Law Review 46(2) [Winter 1995]: 569-640.
Vaughan, R. (2000). Alabama sturgeon FACA lawsuit filed. The WildLaw Letter March 2000. (http://www.wildlaw.org/Mar2000.htm).
Williams, Jack E., Johnson, James E., Hendrickson, Dean A., Contreras-Balderas, Salvador, Williams, James D., Navarro-Mendoza, Miguel, McAllister, Don E. and Deacon, James E. (1989). Fishes of North America endangered, threatened, or of special concern: 1989. Fisheries 14(6): 2-20 [3].
http://www.al.com/news/mobile/index.ssf/2016/08/the_alabama_sturgeon_lives_fea.html
https://extinctanimals.proboards.com/thread/7383/scaphirhynchus-suttkusi-alabama-sturgeon