Shovelnose Sturgeon are a fish found throughout the Mississippi River drainage system. They prefer the currents of large rivers with sand or gravel bottoms. The shovelnose feeds on the bottom using its whiskers to find larvae of aquatic insects, shrimp and accasionally small fish.

Shovelnose sturgeon are smaller than pallid sturgeon a large Shovelnose sturgion would only weigh 5-10 pounds. Unlike their long-lived relative the lake sturgeon, shovelnose sturgeons only live to be about 12 years of age, and reach weights of only five to ten pounds. Lake sturgeons can reach weights of 300 pounds and live for more than 100 years.