Plasma biochemistry of visually asymptomatic hatchery-reared juvenile pallid sturgeon Scaphirhynchus albus exposed to Missouri River sturgeon Iridovirus

Hemoglobin and plasma biochemistry can be informative of important health metrics such as nutritional status, tissue damage or disease, and stress in fish and may be important to population monitoring. The pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) is a long-lived, endangered species native to North America. Pallid sturgeon are closely monitored for health, condition, abundance, distribution, and survival in the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers and are reared in hatcheries in efforts to recover the species, but analytes have not been thoroughly investigated for wild or hatchery-held pallid sturgeon. In this study, we measured 20 biochemistry analytes in asymptomatic hatchery-reared juvenile pallid sturgeon after a Missouri River Sturgeon Iridovirus outbreak and report 95 % confidence intervals for 12 of these analytes (based on Reference Interval [RI] statistical approaches) and minimum and maximum values for an additional six. This study is the first characterization of a broad suite of juvenile pallid sturgeon biochemistry values. Future studies to determine biochemistry RIs of confirmed healthy pallid sturgeon for comparison with pallid sturgeon of variable environmental, rearing, and health will be informative.