Jon Gray’s eighth grade science students at Waldon Middle School have a special guest this year whose origins date back 36 million years.?
His classes are raising a baby sturgeon whose looks have not changed much since prehistoric times, according to biologists.?
The threatened fish specimen was delivered to the school in October by the Sturgeons for Tomorrow conservation group.? Only seven schools in the state were selected to raise a sturgeon in their classrooms this year.? This is the second year in a row that Waldon was selected to participate in the sturgeon program.
? The sturgeon was hatched in the spring. It was 15 cm long when Gray took over its care.?
He feeds the sturgeon blood worms a couple of times daily.?
The tank’s water quality is critical to the sturgeon’s health and students test the water on a regular basis.?
He said this project is helping expose students to man’s impact on the environment, specifically how over fishing, habitat loss and climate change can hurt sturgeon.?
The fish should grow another couple of centimeters during its visit, before it is picked up in May by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and released into Lake St. Clair or Black Lake.?
Sturgeon can live up to 100 years in their natural environment.?
Gray’s classes also are raising salmon fry, which will be released into the Clinton River this spring.