Evaluating growth and survival of juvenile pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) tagged with non-functioning telemetry transmitters

Pallid sturgeon Scaphirhynchus albus populations are at risk of collapse.  To rehabilitate the species, a thorough understanding of its habitat use during all of its life stages is critical.  However, limited information exists on fine-scale habitat use during pallid sturgeon early life.  To determine whether we can use radio-telemetry to quantify habitat use in the field, we assessed growth and subsequent survival of juvenile pallid sturgeon tagged with 0.2 gram non-functioning telemetry tags during an 8-week period.  Three treatments were evaluated: 1) control, 2) internally implanted tags, and 3) externally attached tags.  Growth (F = 4.01; df = 2,35; P = 0.03) and survival (F = 8.60; df = 2,42; P < 0.001) varied across treatment groups.  Pallid sturgeon with internally implanted tags displayed the slowest growth and had the lowest survival, and sturgeon within the control group and with external tags had faster growth and high survival (~100%).  Based on these results, we suggest fine scale habitat use of juvenile pallid sturgeon may be quantified using externally attached transmitters.  However, we suggest that swimming performance of tagged juvenile pallid sturgeon be evaluated before applying this technique in large rivers.