TULSA, Okla. (AP) — The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation is launching a study on a prehistoric species of fish that lives in the Arkansas River.
Fisheries biologist Josh Johnston calls the shovelnose sturgeon "living fossils." The species is native to the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and their tributaries and has been around for about 100 million years.
But Johnston says the species has dwindled, so a new study is looking at how Oklahoma can manage the population.
Tulsa television station KOTV reports that the department plans to insert ultrasonic tags into the abdomens of 25 shovelnose sturgeons so scientists can study the movement and activities of the fish. Johnston asks anyone who sees a shovelnose sturgeon on a 130-mile stretch between the Keystone Dam and Webbers Falls to contact the wildlife department.