Two lowhead dams on the Pearl River are barriers to their natural migration and spawning patterns, according to the social media post. Researcher believe floodwaters likely helped the fish get over the dam.

In 1991, gulf sturgeons were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act after their population was greatly reduced or eliminated throughout much of their range because of overfishing, dam construction, and habitat degradation.

Before this past spring, the last confirmed Gulf sturgeon sighting in the Jackson area was 1996.

According to the post, the fish that was sighted in the spring was originally tagged in 2017 and was detected by a group of researchers from Dr. Michael Andres’ lab from The University of Southern Mississippi.