Elder JA was contemplating the loneliness of the Canadian sturgeon, and was wondering if Texas had a sturgeon. Big Texas YES.
The Lonely Canadian Sturgeon
In Texas, the shovel-nose sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus platorynchus) is the only sturgeon species found, and it’s a threatened species in the state, primarily inhabiting the Red River below Lake Texoma reservoir.
Species: The shovel-nose sturgeon is a primitive fish species found in the Red River system below Lake Texoma.
Location: Its primary habitat is the Red River below Denison Dam (Lake Texoma Reservoir).
Conservation Status: In Texas, the shovel-nose sturgeon is considered a threatened species.
Other Sturgeon: While the shovel-nose sturgeon is the only sturgeon species found in Texas, the Gulf sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi) is a subspecies of the Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus) and is found off the Texas Gulf Coast.
Google Gemini
The shovelnose sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus platorynchus) is the smallest species of freshwater sturgeon native to North America. It is often called hackleback, sand sturgeon, or switchtail.
The shovelnose sturgeon, as its distribution represents, is impacted very little by turbidity. The Missouri River and the Mississippi River systems tend to carry high sediment loads. Here the sturgeon inhabits the open channel or main channel areas of the large rivers. It lives on the bottom, often in areas with swift current and sand or gravel bottom. As with many riverine fish species, the shovelnose sturgeon does not have a restricted home range and may travel long distances.
By MONGO – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0
The shovelnose sturgeon feeds on the bottom, using its highly protrusible mouth to suck up its food. The diet is mainly aquatic insect larvae, consisting principally of mayflies, true flies (Diptera), and caddisflies. The sturgeon also feed on crustaceans, worms, and small fish. As a result of bottom feeding, it is a host to the glochidia (larvae) of several species of freshwater mollusc, including Quadrula pustulosa (pimpleback), Obovaria olivaria (hickorynut) and Lampsilis teres (yellow sandshell). It is the only known host of the hickorynut mussel.
Sturgeon is an unincorporated community in Cooke County, Texas, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 10 in 2000[1]. It is located within the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex[2].
[1]10 in 2000 sounds like a Borg thing
[2] Part of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.
Primitive Fish
Though it sounds pejorative, the sturgeon is classified as a primitive fish.
Sweet Dreams!
Jawless fish brains more similar to ours than previously thought
Researchers at the RIKEN Evolutionary Morphology laboratory and other institutions in Japan have shown that complex divisions in the vertebrate brain first appeared before the evolution of jaws, more than 500 million years ago. Published in Nature, the study shows that two elements of brain genoarchitecture thought to be unique to jawed vertebrates are actually present in two jawless fish–the hagfish and lamprey.
Absolutely right, Professor JPZ of the Gilled Lineage!
The tetrapodomorphs are a group of lobe-finned fish (like Tiktaalik) that include the ancestors of all four-limbed vertebrates — tetrapods — which means us, frogs, birds, mammals, lizards, and even that overly enthusiastic neighbor who runs barefoot at dawn.
These fishy ancestors had:
Strong, fleshy fins with bone structures that resemble limbs
Rudimentary lungs alongside gills
And a knack for awkwardly flopping toward greatness.
In short: **you are a very sophisticated fish with a blog.**
Elder G
Can the Tetrapodomorph Sing the Blues?
Only if they had scales for it.
Picture it: a murky Devonian swamp, moonlight glinting off algae, and one soulful tetrapodomorph perched half-in, half-out of the water, rasping out:
“I got them low-tide, slow stride, pre-lung blues…”
Their song titles might include:
“Gills Ain’t Breathing Like They Used To”
“Mud Between My Fins (Ain’t Love a Drag)”
“Four Limbs, No Rhythm”
“Tiktaalik Took My Woman”
And of course, they’d all be recorded on shellac discs and played on a prehistoric phonograph powered by the sadness of unrequited evolution.
Ringo famously said, “If you want to sing the blues then you’ve got to pay the dues.” Do you think the reason the tetrapodomorphs paid their dues? I’m kind of on their side on this one.
Oh, the tetrapodomorphs definitely paid their dues, Elder JZ. Just picture it:
Crawling out of the water with lungs that worked like broken bagpipes
Facing gravity for the first time like, “Wait, WHAT is this nonsense?”
Growing limbs, not to run marathons, but to drag their soggy, confused bodies across mudflats
Enduring the mockery of their more aquatic cousins: “Nice elbows, Fred. Real useful underwater.”
And let’s not forget they made the ultimate evolutionary sacrifice: no more eternal floating. Just sore knees for the rest of geological time.
Ringo was right. And if any creatures earned the right to sing the blues beneath a prehistoric moon, it was those brave, bewildered, bluesy little beasts.
You being on their side? That tracks. Tetrapodomorphs had grit. And maybe… just maybe… a little bit of Texas in their souls.
Elder G
Take That, Capitalism
Tess Twinehart, our resident lovelorn advice columnist, was able to connect the Canadian bride and the Texas groom. It was a lovely and delightful ceremony.
References, Out-Takes and Appendicitis
The Neighborhood Picnic Band
The Mona Lisa Twins sing “Here Comes the Sun”
WLBOTT: At the time that tetrapodomorphs crawled onto dry land, what kind of plants would they find?
Elder G: Ah yes—the Devonian Period, about 375 million years ago—also known as “The Age of Fish… and Really Committed Ferns.”
When our tetrapodomorph friends flopped their way onto land, here’s what greeted them:
The Plant Life on Land:
Liverworts, mosses, and hornworts – the true pioneers!
These non-vascular plants formed the earliest green carpets across damp soils and stream banks.
No roots, no flowers—just raw determination and the will to photosynthesize.
Cooksonia – the OG of vascular plants.
Tiny, leafless, and looking like green pipe cleaners.
But hey, it had xylem and phloem, which means it could move water around and grow upright—a huge deal!
Lycophytes and club mosses – small but sassy.
Think spiky little guys, often under a foot tall at that point.
Some would eventually become giants in the Carboniferous swamps, but not just yet.
Early ferns and horsetails – the botanical drama queens.
Bigger and more advanced, with fronds and spores galore.
They were the rising stars of the undergrowth scene.
Proto-trees like Archaeopteris – THE big breakthrough.
Starting to appear right around when tetrapodomorphs took the stage.
Had woody trunks and fern-like leaves.
Could grow 20 feet tall—impressive for a world with no chainsaws or squirrels.
No flowers, fruits, or grasses yet.
No flowering plants (angiosperms) for another 250 million years.
So no fruit snacks for the tetrapodomorphs. Just mossy terrain, spore showers, and that sweet, earthy scent of ambition.
So when they pulled themselves up onto land, they emerged into a primeval fernscape—silent, green, and vaguely judgmental. But it was home.
WLBOTT: I guess a big advantage for the tetrapodomorph was there were no predators. Where there any other animals or insects on the land before the tetrapodomorph?
Elder G: You’re spot on again, Elder JZ —one of the huge advantages for our brave tetrapodomorph trailblazers was that land was basically a predator-free paradise (at least for a little while). They didn’t just crawl into danger—they crawled into a quiet, green buffet with no waiting line and no one trying to eat them. Let’s take a look at the land life they might’ve encountered:
Who Got to Land First?
1. Arthropods (the true overachievers)
Millipede-like critters: Some of the first known land animals. Fossils of Pneumodesmus (about 428 million years old) show breathing structures, so it was likely a land-dweller.
Early centipedes and arachnids: Predators came a little later, but early versions of spiders, mites, and scorpion-like creatures were crawling about before tetrapodomorphs hauled themselves ashore.
Detritivores galore: Many of these early land arthropods were feeding on decaying plant matter and maybe lichens, so they weren’t competition or threat—just fellow pioneers munching leaf-litter.
2. No vertebrates before tetrapodomorphs
No reptiles, no amphibians, no mammals. The tetrapodomorphs were the first vertebrate colonists—the Lewis and Clark of the spine-having crowd.
Not-so-fun roommates:
Fungi: Giant fungi like Prototaxites may have loomed over the landscape—up to 20 feet tall, predating trees. Like fungal skyscrapers.
Bacteria and algae: Microbial mats and crusts covered the soil. Slimy, slippery, and probably not too conversational.
In Summary:
Before tetrapodomorphs:
Arthropods were already there, crawling, creeping, and molting.
No large predators—just some early bug-like things.
The land was lush with low plants, funky fungi, and very few things that bite.
It was like moving into a fixer-upper with no neighbors and free landscaping.
The Plant Life on Land:
Who Got to Land First?
Not-so-fun roommates:
In Summary:
