This lifeform is found east of the Mississippi River in North America. This lifeform is marine and found only in salt water. This lifeform is threatened and might become extinct.

Atlantic Sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrhynchus) is found along the eastern coast of North America from Labrador south to Florida. This species is now very rare. The very long snout with very straight edges helps identify this species. This is a marine species of the continental shelf that uses freshwater rivers to spawn. This species can be up to fourteen feet long.

Sturgeons (Family Acipenseridae) are a group  of worldwide freshwater bottom feeding fish. There are perhaps twenty-five species in this family.  Sturgeons are known to have very long life spans and may live to over 150 years. Roe and Caviar are   table names for sturgeon eggs. Because of over-fishing, many species of sturgeons have become quite scarce. Following is a list of some of the better known species of sturgeons:

  Shortnose Sturgeon   Acipenser brevirostrum  Canada to Florida
  Lake Sturgeon        Acipenser fulvescens    East United States
  Green Sturgeon       Acipenser medirostis    Alaska-California
  Atlantic Sturgeon    Acipenser oxyrhynchus   Canada - Louisiana
  White Sturgeon       Acipenser transmontanus Alaska-California
  European Sturgeon    Acipenser sturio        Europe
  Beluga               Huso huso               Black-Caspian Seas
  Shovelnose Sturgeon  Scaphirhynchus          Mid United States
                       platorynchus
  Pallid Sturgeon      Scaphirhynchus albus    Missouri River

Sturgeon and paddlefish group (Order Chondrostei) contains the  Bichirs, Sturgeons, and Paddlefish. Note that although this  group is placed with the cartilage fish group, sturgeons do have bones. This small group of fish could be placed in several  different taxonomic places (with the sharks or with the modern  bony fish).

Sharks and rays (Elasmobranchi), cartilaginous fishes, deserve to be a class separate from the normal fish, in that they do not have a bone skeleton but rather a cartilage skeleton.

Fertilization is internal in this class which also separates them from the bony fish class. Although there are a few fresh water species, the majority of the species in this class are found in salt water. As of 2005, there were about 500 known species of sharks and about 600 known species of rays.

David Ebert, author of a recent book on sharks, rays, and chimaeras of California, counts a total of 988 described species in the class with about 150 additional species awaiting scientific description. He breaks down the described species to 410 species of sharks, 543 species of rays, and 35 species of chimaeras.

Backboned Animals (Phylum Chordata) are the most advanced group of animals on earth. These animals are characterized by having a spinal cord or backbone. Most members have a clearly defined brain that controls the organism through a spinal cord. Fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals are in this phylum.

Currently, some taxonomists believe that the fish should be divided into two groups (sharks and regular fishes) and that there are some other primitive groups in the phylum such as hagfish or lampreys.

Animal Kingdom contains numerous organisms that feed on other animals or plants. Included in the animal kingdom are the lower marine invertebrates such as sponges and corals, the jointed legged animals such as insects and spiders, and the backboned animals such as fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.