Gulf Sturgeon (Acipenser desotoi), Acipenseridae, order Acipenseriformes, found in the Gulf of Mexico and rivers that drain into it, from FL to LA, USA

ENDANGERED.

People love the sturgeon. They admire the sturgeon.

(Sources - 1, 2, 3, 4)

Order: Acipenseriformes

Common Name: “sturgeons” and “paddlefish”

Families: 2 - Acipenseridae (“sturgeons”) and Polyodontidae (“paddlefish”)

Anatomy: weakly ossified skeletons with the majority of bone being replaced by cartilage, larvae have teeth while adults are toothless or nearly toothless, retain the ability to sense electric fields using ampullae, barbels around mouth for tactile sensing, paddlefish is smooth-skinned with a paddle-shaped rostrum, sturgeons protected by rows of scutes

Diet: mollusks, crustaceans, and small fish (sturgeons), zooplankton (paddlefish)

Habitat/Range: subtropical to subarctic waters in North America and Eurasia

Evolved in: Early Jurassic

Propaganda under the cut:

I'd love to share something with my Midwestern friends, and thank you for always updating this blog!

I don't know if i have any Missouri animal facts per se... but I can share some of the state symbols with everyone.

We moved around a lot when we first came to the U.S. and we lived briefly in Kansas City. I have great memories of going to the Ozarks at Christmas time (near Lake of the Ozarks). I specifically remember following woodpeckers and deer around the forest in the snow.

SOME MISSOURI STATE SYMBOLS:

STATE BIRD: Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis), family Turdidae, order Passeriformes, found across much of the central and Eastern U.S., SE Canada, and NW Mexico

Changes in land use lead to drastic declines in Eastern Bluebirds after the early 1900s. They have recovered in many places, due to "bluebird trails", reestablishing appropriate habitat and nest box campaigns for public and private property.

Find out more: NestWatch | Eastern Bluebird - NestWatch

Blue birds are in the thrush family, Turdidae, along with American Robins.

They eat mainly worms, insects, and other small invertebrates (but also take berries for part of the year).

Bluebirds are cavity nesters, nesting in tree holes usually, but will readily take to properly constructed and placed nest boxes.

Males (pictured) are brighter blue, and females are a more muted and faded blue or bluish gray.

photograph by Keith Kennedy

STATE AQUATIC ANIMAL: American Paddlefish (Polyodon spathula), family Polyodontidae, order Acipenseriformes, found in various parts of the Mississippi River basin

This species is the only member of this family that still exists. They are most closely related to sturgeons. This order, Acipenseriformes, is considered one of the most evolutionarily primitive groups of ray finned fishes.

They do not have scales, and their skeleton is mostly cartilaginous.

They are filter feeders. Their heads and rostrums are covered with thousands of sensory receptors, which help them locate zooplankton swarms.

They are considered "vulnerable" due to overfishing, habitat degradation and destruction, and pollution.

photograph via: US Fish & Wildlife Service

STATE ENDANGERED ANIMAL: Eastern Hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis), family Cryptobranchidae, eastern United States

The largest salamander in the Americas, it grows to a total maximum length of up to 40 cm (15.7 in). 

Though nationally it is considered to be just "vulnerable", in some states (like Missouri), it is "endangered".

photograph by Mark Tegges

STATE REPTILE: Three-toed Box Turtle (Terrapene triunguis), family Emydidae, found in the South-central and Southeastern U.S.

This specie shas been considered to be a subspecies of the Eastern Box Turtle, T. carolina (and still is by some herpetologists).

These turtles are terrestrial, but are not closely related to tortoises. They are in the same family as aquatic sliders, pond turtles, cooters, map turtles, and painted turtles.

photograph by Noppadol Paothong

STATE FISH: Channel Catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), family Ictaluridae, order Siluriformes, found in freshwater habitats in the eastern and southern US, southern Canada, and northern Mexico

They are widely caught, and have been introduced into waterways in other parts of North America and around the world. (In some places they are considered an invasive species).

photograph via: Missouri Dept. of Conservation

The sturgeon's name is quite appropriate; it loosely translates to 'stirrer'. These species have poor eyesight, and instead find food by feeling through the mud with their sensitive snouts and whisker-like barbels.

(Image: A group of Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrhynchus) by Ryan Hagerty)

The long goodbye: Study declares ancient Chinese paddlefish extinct

In 2003, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences captured, tagged and released a female Chinese paddlefish (Psephurus gladius) that had accidentally been caught in the Yangtze River. In just 12 hours, all communication with the fish tag was lost. That was the last time scientists saw a living Chinese paddlefish.

The same team of researchers, led by Qiwei Wei, assessed the species as critically endangered (possibly extinct) for the IUCN Red List in 2009. But the Chinese paddlefish, listed among the world’s largest freshwater fish species with lengths reaching up to 7 meters (23 feet), likely went extinct before that assessment, a new study concludes. In fact, by 1993, the species was most probably functionally extinct; that is, it was unable to reproduce successfully and its population was too small to be significant in any manner, researchers have now determined.

The Chinese paddlefish is, or rather was, a unique species. It was one of only two living species of paddlefish, the other being the American paddlefish (Polyodon spathula), part of an ancient group of fish known to have existed since the Lower Jurassic, 200 million years ago. It was also the only species in the genus Psephurus.

“Given that the Chinese paddlefish was one of the two extant species of paddlefishes, loss of such unique and charismatic megafauna representative of freshwater ecosystems is a reprehensible and an irreparable loss,” Wei, a professor at the Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences and co-author of the study, told Mongabay.

Pallid Sturgeon (via USFWS Mountain-Prairie)

Juvenile pallid sturgeon photographed at Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery. Thousands of these endangered fish are produced at GPNFH annually.