A Look Through Time: Gulf Sturgeon Habitat Quality and Availability in Choctawhatchee Bay, FL

Choctawhatchee Bay, FL provides critical foraging habitats for the federally protected Gulf sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi).  The Choctawhatchee River remains free flowing, allowing access to spawning sites, and is one factor that likely contributes to the relative health of the Gulf sturgeon population utilizing the system.  Like many estuarine systems, the Choctawhatchee Bay watershed has experienced dramatic increases in human population in recent years.  Managers tasked with recovering Gulf sturgeon have expressed concern over potential alterations in estuarine habitats and how that has affected habitat utilization.  We examined Gulf sturgeon habitat use patterns in Choctawhatchee Bay along with substrate composition and benthic community structure.   Although there were interannual and historical differences in distribution of occupied habitats, Gulf sturgeon were consistently relocated in nearshore sandy shelf habitats largely dominated by polychaetes. Gulf sturgeon were not relocated in areas of high species diversity, but were found in areas with high prey density. The availability and geographic distribution of prey resources is increasingly important to understand and preserve, as managers aim bolster recovering Gulf sturgeon populations.  Choctawhatchee Bay can serve as a model system to allow managers to understand Gulf sturgeon habitat use in the face of changing estuarine habitats.