Are there any outdoor sturgeon exhibits in zoos or aquariums?

DavidBrown

DavidBrown

Well-Known Member
15+ year member
In 2019 I visited Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River in Oregon. Next to the dam is a fish hatchery, and much to my surprise and delight there was a world-class zoo exhibit for a huge white sturgeon and other native Columbia river fish. The sturgeon, Herman the Sturgeon, is unofficially a state mascot of Oregon and is 11 feet long and weighs 500 pounds. There are several other sturgeon in the exhibit.

This article describes the exhibit: Herman the Sturgeon | Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife

Here is the exhibit description:
Herman is now resting comfortably in the two-acre pond, feeding on fresh salmon, and doing swim-bys for tourists from all over the world who stop in by the tens of thousands to eagerly snap selfies with him to send to friends. It is one of the few places on the planet where people have the opportunity to gaze directly into the eyes of a fish that predates man by millions of years, a modern day dinosaur.

The Sturgeon Center is situated under a forest canopy and has a continuous flow of cool, fresh water. A paved path part-way around the pond provides easy access to a viewing platform where people can get a bird’s eye view of Herman and his companions – smaller sturgeon and some over-sized trout. A covered kiosk just a few steps away has a large viewing window below the water’s surface that lets visitors get nose-to-nose with Herman. The site is ADA accessible and is open to the public year-round free of charge.
Click to expand...

Are there any other zoos or aquariums in the world that have outdoor sturgeon exhibits, with or without underwater viewing? It seems like it could be a quite affordable exhibit concept for a spectacular and charismatic species that is rarely exhibited in zoos or aquariums. Sturgeon are or were present in many freshwater river systems, and are megafauna that are largely unrecognized. They could help anchor native species exhibits.
 
Not exactly an aquarium, but one of the exhibits at the Minnesota State Fair is the DNR building, which has some aquaria for native fishes and vivaria for native herps. Outside the building are a large fish pond and a smaller waterfowl pond. The outdoor fish pond has pretty much every species of gamefish found in Minnesota, but the star attractions are massive Lake Sturgeon and Paddlefish. The fair itself only runs for a couple weeks in late summer, and for the rest of the year the fish are held off site.
 
Aquarium of the Pacific has a White Sturgeon outdoors in their Bat Ray touch pool. They also keep younger sturgeon in their wading bird aviary. Both have underwater viewing though it isn’t very large. Seeing them above water is much easier, and might I add very interesting being right above them.
 
Ostrava, Ohrada, Modrá, Chleby, Vyskov...

Živá Voda Modrá has the most impressive exhibit, a large pond with an underwater tunnel and keeps there some really nice sturgeons including vyza (beluga).

Young sturgeons are the third most popular garden pond fish here, after koi ans golden fish. You can buy it in every larger garden supplies center.
 
Are there still stertlets in the sunken garden at Chester? I’ve never managed to find them as the water is so reflective
 
DavidBrown said:
In 2019 I visited Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River in Oregon. Next to the dam is a fish hatchery, and much to my surprise and delight there was a world-class zoo exhibit for a huge white sturgeon and other native Columbia river fish. The sturgeon, Herman the Sturgeon, is unofficially a state mascot of Oregon and is 11 feet long and weighs 500 pounds. There are several other sturgeon in the exhibit.

This article describes the exhibit: Herman the Sturgeon | Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife
Click to expand...

I've seen that exhibit, and it's quite nice indeed! Herman is quite an impressively large fish, I took quite a few photos of him.

Oregon Zoo I believe should still have White Sturgeon in the pool below the Bald Eagles.
Turtle Bay Exploration Park previously held both White and Green sturgeons in their river tank as a raise and release type program, but due to complications with release regulations ceased this several years ago and no longer exhibits them sadly.
 
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