The lower Alabama River is the only natural habitat where the Alabama sturgeon is still believed to survive. This critically endangered fish, Scaphirhynchus suttkusi, now occupies roughly 130 miles of the river in southern Alabama.
Its historical range was much larger. The species once occurred through more than 1,600 kilometers of connected waterways, including the Alabama, Tombigbee, Mobile, Tensaw, Black Warrior, Cahaba, Coosa, and Tallapoosa rivers. Dams, channel modification, pollution, and habitat changes contributed to its dramatic decline.
The Alabama sturgeon was known to biologists decades before it received formal scientific recognition in 1991. Its yellowish-orange body, flattened snout, and distinctive tail make it a characteristic member of the sturgeon family, but its rarity makes encounters extremely unusual.
The phrase 'only natural habitat' refers to the remaining wild range, not the species' historical distribution. Conservation programs focus on protecting river conditions and supporting research, while captive propagation has been explored because the surviving population is so restricted.