Lake Sturgeon: Dinosaurs of the Great Lakes

Volume 2 in Earthwave's Sturgeon Video Library (the first volume is The Gulf Sturgeon, also available at the same price), this gorgeously photographed presentation explores the biology and ecological history of the lake sturgeon. Able to survive whatever killed off their dinosaur friends millennia ago, and then enduring through the cold of the Ice Ages, these spiny-skinned, bottom-dwelling creatures numbered in the 10 million range in the Great Lakes when they were first harvested for various commercial concerns in the 1880s and 1890s. By the 1920s, their numbers had dwindled to the remnant population that we see now, and today they are in fact an endangered species. Beginning with an amazingly comprehensive, 2½-minute-long sociological and ecological treatise on the Great Lakes themselves, the producers then introduce us to the lake sturgeon's appearance, lifespan, and feeding and reproductive habits, and then interview some of the many scientists and laypeople who are researching their decline and collaborating for their protection and recovery. A balanced, beautifully filmed, truly informative program, this tape is highly recommended for Great Lakes states libraries, and larger ecological/zoological collections elsewhere. Aud: H, C, P. (K. Glaser)