Pallid sturgeon in the Lower Mississippi Region: Hematology and genome information

This project (Project 1448-43270-2M-002) has been coordinated through the Natchitoches National Fish Hatchery (NNFH) and the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Wetlands Research Center (NWRC). From November 2001 to April 2002, over 280 sturgeon of the genus Scaphirhynchus (including pallid sturgeon, shovelnose, and their hybrids) were sampled from the outflow channel of the Old River Control Structure Complex (ORCC) in Concordia Parish, La. In the overall project, several datasets were collected (see Appendix), including species identification by using microsatellites and morphometric characters, food habits, physical anomalies, information on blood cells, and pathologic evidence of iridovirus – the first indication in the lower Mississippi population of pallid sturgeon. In this study, data on blood cells were obtained from the sturgeon collected monthly from approximately 20 different animals at each sampling time.

This report presents preliminary information on differential blood cell identifications in sturgeon, data on comparative genomic DNA content and DNA degradation, and summaries and interpretations of data collected in light of available scientific literature addressing blood parameters of fish and sturgeon, in particular. Results obtained from collection and examination of blood and body fluids are often essential in establishing the health of fish (Blaxhall, 1972; Fange, 1992). Blood cells and sperm cells can be obtained nondestructively from fishes, even from small specimens that weigh less than 100 g (Stoskopf, 1992a). For flow cytometry assays, whereby cells are analyzed individually in a fluid stream, less than 1 :L of blood is needed. Examinations of blood by microscopy and flow cytometry were performed at NWRC in assisting in the efforts directed at recovery of the pallid sturgeon population in the Lower Mississippi River Basin.