You can call the August Full Moon the Corn Moon as the Algonquin and Ojibwe tribes have done or the Harvest Moon as called by the Dakotas, but it is tradionally named the Sturgeon Moon after a large fish found in the Great Lakes (also Lake Champlain) that is most often caught at this time of year.
Whatever you want to call the full Moon this month look for it Aug. 9, 2025, when it will be at peak illumination at 3:55 a.m. Eastern Time. However, it will definitely look full Aug. 8-10.
I saw what the sturgeon looks like when visiting the popular Grand Rapids Public Museum in Michigan. Sturgeons really are ugly and do look prehistoric so it’s easy to believe they are, as scientists say, descended from fish that date to the Early Jurasic period.
They have a heterocercal caudal fin like sharks on an elongated smooth body with lateral scutes (plates).
Less ferocious August Full Moon names are Flying Up Moon (Cree) and Black Cherries Moon (Assiniboine) for when chokecherries become ripe. Also, The Tlingit of the Pacific Northwest traditionally call the season of the Mountain Shadows Moon.
- Find more information at TimeandDate, at Old Farmer’s Almanac and at Space.
