Sturgeon on the IUCN Red List

In the global reassessment published in 2022, 25 of 27 sturgeon and paddlefish species were in the three threatened categories; one was Extinct in the Wild and one was Extinct.

How to read sturgeon Red List categories

The IUCN Red List evaluates extinction risk using standard categories and criteria. In its technical vocabulary, threatened means Vulnerable, Endangered or Critically Endangered; Extinct and Extinct in the Wild are reported separately.

• Extinct (EX): no reasonable doubt remains that the last individual has died.
• Extinct in the Wild (EW): survives only in captivity, cultivation or naturalised populations outside its former range.
• Critically Endangered (CR): an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
• Endangered (EN): a very high risk of extinction in the wild.
• Vulnerable (VU): a high risk of extinction in the wild.
• Near Threatened (NT): close to qualifying for a threatened category, or likely to qualify soon.
• Least Concern (LC): assessed but not qualifying for a higher category.
• Data Deficient (DD): available information is inadequate for a direct or indirect assessment of extinction risk.

Data Deficient does not mean safe, and Least Concern does not mean that every population is secure. Not Evaluated, a ninth category, means that the taxon has not yet been assessed against the criteria.

The five criteria address population reduction (A), restricted geographic range (B), small population size and decline (C), very small or restricted populations (D), and quantitative extinction analysis (E). A species need meet only one applicable criterion: the letter and accompanying numbers explain why its category was assigned.

The complete species table

The table records the 2022 global reassessment baseline, using CITES names rather than silently applying later taxonomic proposals. It contains 17 Critically Endangered, three Endangered and five Vulnerable species, alongside the two extinction categories.

The categories are from the 2022 update and must not be treated as a verified current inventory.

The Atlantic sturgeon row is the species assessment, not a separate count of its subspecies. Gulf sturgeon was reported as Endangered in the 2022 update under the name Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi; adding that subspecies to the total would double count part of the species.

Assessment dates are not publication dates

An assessment date records when the extinction risk evaluation was completed. The publication year identifies when that assessment appeared on the Red List, while the date checked records when an editor consulted the evidence.

For example, the European sturgeon assessment published in 2022 gives 15 September 2020 as its assessment date. Writing simply “assessed in 2022” would therefore be wrong, even though the category was included in that year's update.

For professional citation, retain the taxon, assessment scope, category and criteria, assessment date, publication year and assessment identifier together. A later website access date does not make the underlying population evidence newer.

Global and regional assessments answer different questions

A global assessment considers the species across its worldwide range; a regional assessment considers extinction risk within a defined area. Different boundaries, population trends and assessment dates can produce different categories without either assessment being mistaken.

The European Red List of Freshwater Fishes was updated in 2026, with results for Europe and the European Union. Those regional results should be labelled by scope, not substituted into a global status table.

Ship sturgeon illustrates the distinction: its global category was Critically Endangered in the 2022 reassessment, while the accompanying specialist account reported its disappearance from the Danube. Regional loss is not global extinction, and survival elsewhere does not establish that a lost river population has returned.

What changed in the major reassessment

The 2022 update followed the major assessment cycle reported in 2010. Lake sturgeon moved from Least Concern to Endangered, green sturgeon from Near Threatened to Endangered, and white sturgeon from Least Concern to Vulnerable.

Chinese paddlefish was confirmed Extinct, whereas Yangtze sturgeon moved from Critically Endangered to Extinct in the Wild. These are different findings: the latter category allows survival under captive management, and released animals alone do not demonstrate recovery of a self-sustaining wild population.

Adriatic sturgeon provided evidence of improvement through sporadic natural reproduction in the Po basin. According to the NASPS comparison, Adriatic sturgeon was Critically Endangered, possibly extinct in the wild, in 2010 and Critically Endangered in 2022.

Chinese paddlefish was confirmed Extinct, whereas Yangtze sturgeon moved from Critically Endangered to Extinct in the Wild.

Read the extinct Chinese paddlefish for the extinction evidence, and why sturgeon are the most endangered group of species for the wider causes of decline.

How the 2025 taxonomy debate affects names

Brownstein and Near proposed substantial generic changes in 2025, including the use of Sinosturio for kaluga. Kottelat and Freyhof subsequently challenged aspects of that nomenclature; these were taxonomic proposals, not new extinction risk assessments.

At their joint meeting on 22 October 2025, the IUCN SSC Sturgeon Specialist Group and World Sturgeon Conservation Society did not support those revisions. Their alternative position nevertheless proposed dissolving Huso and recognising Atlantic and Gulf sturgeons as distinct taxa, so “the specialists rejected all name changes” is also inaccurate.

Legal nomenclature, assessment names and alternative classifications serve different purposes and may differ. The specialists proposed Acipenser huso for beluga, a name now accepted by WoRMS; the detailed 2025 sturgeon taxonomy debate concerns classification rather than extinction risk.

IUCN, CITES and domestic law are separate systems

IUCN categories are scientific risk assessments, not legal listings. CITES regulates international trade: shortnose and European sturgeons are in Appendix I, while the other sturgeons and paddlefishes are covered by Appendix II; neither appendix is an IUCN category. In the United States, the Endangered Species Act separately lists four Atlantic sturgeon distinct population segments as endangered and the Gulf of Maine segment as threatened. In the EU, the Habitats Directive lists Adriatic and European sturgeons in Annexes II and IV, connecting habitat conservation and strict species protection to that legislation rather than to their Red List category. Consequently, a Red List status cannot by itself establish whether a particular catch, domestic sale or import is lawful; the relevant wildlife and fisheries rules must be checked separately.

Where to go next

• Sturgeon Conservation: the parent guide to recovery, protection and conservation evidence.
• Sturgeon Species and Their Caviar: The Complete Guide: species identification and the distinction between fish biology and roe terminology.