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American shad

The American shad is a fish which occupies a territory spanning from the river Saint Laurent to the river Saint John, in Florida . Shad are silvery with a brown-black through blue-green iridescent back.An adult shad can measure between 40 and 60 cms and weigh one to three kilos, the female being often bigger than the male. It is a fish which can live up to the age of 13 years. The American shad is born in fresh water then migrates to the sea, in which it reaches its grown-up stage. It then returns to fresh waters to lay new eggs.This fish, which needs fresh water to lay its eggs, is sometimes eradicated from streams after the construction of dams. So, efforts are made to restore populations of shads in several streams and the Canadian government set up a regulation which aims at maintaining and increasing the populations of existing American shad. So, this regulation specifies the conditions and times of fishing.

Copper redhorse

The copper redhorse is a fish of the family of the Catostomidae which exists only in Quebec. It lives nowhere else in the world. It occupies a restricted territory situated to the southwest of the province.At present, its presence is confirmed only in the Richelieu and the Thousand Islands, as well as in a short section of the Saint Laurent, between Montreal and Three Rivers.The copper redhorse owes its name to the particular shape of its scales which look like the armours of the knights.
It has a small triangular head, a hunchbacked back and we notice copper-coloured reflections on its scales. The average grown-up copper redhorse is 65 cms long and weighs approximately 4 kg.
Considering it restricted geographical distribution, its weak density and the progressive rarefaction of its populations, the copper redhorse is considered as an endangered species by the Canadian government.

Lake sturgeon

The lake sturgeon belongs to the family of sturgeons, which includes more than 23 sorts distributed in the entire northern hemisphere (North America, Europe and Asia). In North America, it is fished in New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The lake sturgeon is the biggest fish of all the fresh water fish of Quebec.It is also the one that lives longer; it is said that it can live for more than 150 years! Adult lake sturgeons can measure up to 2.5 metres and weigh more than 135 kg.The family of sturgeons already existed in prehistoric time and we know that today’s sturgeons have almost the same shape as in those times.The colour of the lake sturgeon depends on its age. Indeed, the youngest have big black spots on their sides, back and snout, which disappear with adulthood. Adults, on their parts, have a colour which can vary between brown and grey on their sides and back and their stomachs are white.Lake sturgeons eat aquatic insects’ larvae, molluscs, shellfish and small fish.

 

 


American shad
Copper redhorse
Lake sturgeon

 

Fauna River Richelieu
Fishes