The fish has a slender nearly transparent body. Snout long, eye small, mouth ventral, with one or two prominent barbels on each side. It has a keel on each dorsal scale. With a maximum length of 3 1/2 inches. The species prefers large turbid sandy rivers over substrate of small gravel and coarse sand. They like areas swept by currents especially at heads of islands or exposed sandbars.

Sturgeon Chubs are protected by the Kansas Nongame and Endangered Species Conservation Act and administrative regulations applicable thereto. Any time an eligible project is proposed that will impact the species’ preferred habitats within its probable range, the project sponsor must contact the Ecological Services Section, Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, 512 SE 25th Ave., Pratt, Kansas 67124-8174. Department personnel can then advise the project sponsor on permit requirements.

As defined by Kansas Administrative Regulations, critical habitats include those areas documented as currently supporting self-sustaining population(s) of any threatened or endangered species of wildlife as well as those areas determined by the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism to be essential for the conservation of any threatened or endangered species of wildlife.

 Currently, the following areas are designated critical for Sturgeon Chubs:

 (1) All reaches of the main stem of the Missouri River that are congruent with the Kansas/Missouri border.
 (2) The main stem of the Kansas River from its start at the confluence of the Republican and Smoky Hill Rivers in Geary County to its confluence with the Missouri River in Wyandotte County.