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Creature Feature: Lake Sturgeon

With the focus on heat in this issue, we thought it would be great to select a ‘creature feature’ that lives in the water. Meet one of Canada’s living dinosaurs – the Lake Sturgeon. If you spend time swimming, snorkelling or paddling near the beaches of the Ottawa River, you may have seen one of these amazing fish in real life. Though it may seem relatively common here in the Ottawa River, in many places in Canada its numbers are very reduced as a result of commercial fishing many decades ago, and habitat loss from the development of dams.

The Lake Sturgeon is Canada’s largest freshwater fish. It is a very ancient species, and related to species dating back 200 million years! Its internal structure is cartilage (like a shark) and its skeleton is made out of external “scutes” which are large bony scales on the outside of its body. These scutes can help serve as protection for the fish like armor and make sturgeon distinct from other fish.

It is dark to light brown or grey in colour on its back and sides with a lighter belly. It has four barbels or whiskers in front of its long, toothless mouth.

Fast Facts: • Scientific name: Acipenser fulvescens • A Lake Sturgeon can live for more than 100 years, and grow to lengths of up to three metres! • Sturgeon were and still are an important fish to many indigenous peoples. These fish were used for food, the skin was used to make containers, the scutes were used to make tools and the tail bones were used to make arrowheads! • The Lake Sturgeon lives almost exclusively in freshwater lakes and rivers with soft bottoms of mud, sand or gravel. They are usually found at depths of five to 20 metres.

Cool Careers!

Jae Young Lee Industrial Hygiene Technologist

How would you describe your work?

As an Industrial Hygiene Technologist, my job is to make sure that people are working in a healthy and safe environment, so that they don’t get sick or hurt at work. Workers may come across different types of hazards while on the job, such as very loud noises, chemicals, or air that is hard to breathe. I take samples, make calculations and do research on the risk. Then I am able work with the staff and find ways to help them to stay safe from those hazards.

What is the most interesting or exciting part of your job?

I like being able to work on lots of different projects. Each group does different work, so each team has new problems that I need to research and solve. When working on new projects, I get to use my skills and knowledge on many topics, which makes my job exciting. I also enjoy that I am always learning something new. My work in Industrial Hygiene is always changing as scientists do more research, and as we learn about new dangers that workers are facing -- I get to experience new things all the time!

How did you become interested in Industrial Hygiene?

While studying at university, I learned a lot about public health, especially Occupational and Environmental Health – which means studying how people can stay healthy at work, and how the environment around us can help or hurt our bodies. This was when I first found out about Industrial Hygiene. I also had a great opportunity to work with the Industrial Hygiene team at CNL while I was a university student, which I enjoyed very much. This helped me to decide that I wanted to become an Industrial Hygiene Technologist.