STURGEON FOSSIL
The Ancient Fish That Lives Among Us
BOREIOSTURION LABYRINTHICUS
A newly discovered sturgeon fossil from the late-Cretaceous period is filling gaps in the fish’s long evolutionary history ►
by Olivia Wiens
THE
renowned sturgeon is a living mystery. With its bony structure, unique scales and deceptively strong body, it has been on this planet for as many as 200 million years. It has long outlived the dinosaurs— maturing slowly and spawning infrequently—yet sturgeon researchers still have many questions about its vast evolutionary tree. So when two hikers discovered a fossil along the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton in October 2022—later determined to be a sturgeon fossil from the late-cretaceous period about 72 million years ago—sturgeon researchers were excited to learn anything they could about it. “We don't have sturgeon fossils from this area at this time,” says Luke Nelson, co-author of the study conducted on this fossil, published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Nelson has had sturgeon swimming through his mind since he was a young boy watching them in aquariums. Now completing his master's degree in evolutionary biology at the University of Alberta, this fossil discovery is a significant step towards his dream career.
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of the traits that drew him and the study’s lead researcher, Alison Murray, to this specimen were the unique markings found on it. Unlike other sturgeon fossils, this one has three different patterns throughout its structure— including various ridges, winding grooves and polka-dot-like pockets. “All of these are different than any other previously described sturgeon,” notes Nelson. “So from that, we can say this is actually a new species.” Yet, the fossil also has key defining characteristics that determine it as a sturgeon, like visible
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scutes, the scales lining their sides, that are the specific size and shape of those of a sturgeon. The researchers have dubbed this new species Boreiosturion labyrinthicus. Despite sturgeon’s long history, there are still many questions about their evolutionary tree. It’s not quite clear how current sturgeon are related to ancient ones, says Nelson, but this new species is helping fill in those gaps. “This is part of a bigger puzzle with reconstructing not only the evolutionary trajectory of sturgeon as a whole, but also how the environment looked in Alberta 70 million years ago,” he explains.