Some Really Big, Really Old Fish

More about those big, un-dangerous sturgeon in the Hudson River, from the Hudson River Almanac:

6/28 - Dutchess County, HRM 80: The NYSDEC Hudson River Fisheries Unit sturgeon tracking team netted an 8' long female Atlantic sturgeon this afternoon. Sturgeon over 4' in length tend to be females. This one may have been 35-40 years old. She appeared to be about to burst with eggs - her body was huge! The fish was fitted with a satellite tag for tracking and released after much prodding and encouragement.

- Amanda Higgs, Rebecca Johnson

[Atlantic sturgeon are the stuff of myth and legend. They are the largest fish to regularly inhabit the Hudson, reaching 10-12' in length and weighing in excess of 350 lb. Biologically they are a fish but their countenance suggests far more. They are a primitive-looking and wonderfully adapted creature belonging to an order of fishes whose evolutionary origins reaches back into the Triassic, at least 200 million years ago. Sturgeon grow very slowly - taking as long or longer than humans to reach maturity - and rival us in longevity, surviving 50 years or more in the wild. Tom Lake.]

The Hudson River Almanac is worth getting, by the way. Here’s how:

The Hudson River E-Almanac is compiled and edited by Tom Lake and emailed weekly by DEC's Hudson River Estuary Program. To sign up to receive the E-Almanac (or to unsubscribe), send an email message to hrep@gw.dec.state.ny.us and write E-Almanac in the subject line.

Way Down Upon the Suwanee the Sturgeon Are Jumping Dangerously

No sooner did the Albany Times-Union mention that leaping sturgeon can be dangerous and that a woman in Florida was recently injured by one then the Times shows up with a story about leaping sturgeon injuring people in Florida, on the Suwanee River in particular, here.

Why do sturgeon leap out of the water?

“We say, ‘Pretty much because they can,’ ” said Karen Parker, a spokeswoman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. She said the jumping seemed more frequent this year and last, maybe because sturgeon favor deeper water and are feeling cramped with the river unusually low.

Ken Sulak, a biologist with the United States Geological Survey, has ruled out several theories. Since sturgeon do not jump in spawning season, Dr. Sulak said, the jumping must not be for reproductive reasons. And since they have no freshwater predators but occasional alligators, it is probably not an escape response.

Might they jump for joy?

Doubtful, Dr. Sulak said.

His guess is that sturgeon jump to let other sturgeon know they have found a good spot to hang out. They seem to gather mainly within six short, narrow stretches of the Suwannee where there are deep holes, so they do not have to waste energy fighting the current. They fast and relax all summer, basically “just going to the spa for several months,” Dr. Sulak said.

They can use the rest. The federal government has listed gulf sturgeon as threatened since 1991, and for nearly a quarter-century Florida has outlawed catching them. Ms. Parker said there were now 3,000 to 5,000 of them in the Suwannee; Dr. Sulak puts the number closer to 7,000.

Gulf sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus desotoi) are a subspecies of the Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus). The other sturgeon we get around here are the short-nosed sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum). The shortnose and Gulf are protected as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

And as National Geographic reported, people have been getting hurt by leaping sturgeon in the south for years.

Sturgeon General

Once when I was still a reporter, I got a call one June day from Frances Dunwell, of the New York State DEC’s Hudson River Estuary Program. Researchers were going out on a boat the next day to catch and tag sturgeon in the Hudson, she told me, and I was invited to accompany them. That’s great, I said, tell me where and when. Sturgeon were mysterious. The Hudson in June was beautiful. And a chance to observe part of what goes on under the water was too good to pass up.

Then an editor called me to his desk. A county employee had recently been charged with a crime in connection with a sewage spill in Yonkers, a story I had been covering. The employee was going to be arraigned at Yonkers city court. When? Tomorrow. But I was just invited to observe a sturgeon-tagging operation – it will make a great story.

Tough, he said. It's your story. You’re going to Yonkers city court.

I did as I was assigned, accompanied by plenty of complaining, but I always regretted the missed sturgeon opportunity.

It turns out though that Fran and the HREP are still involved in sturgeon research, along with other backers. Not long ago a fellow from the Albany Times Union did what I had hoped to do and wrote a pretty good account, here.

Here are some excerpts that interested me particularly:

Two centuries ago, novelist Washington Irving saw a sturgeon leap from the river.

"How solemn and thrilling the scene as we anchored at night at the foot of these mountains," he wrote, "... and was startled now and then by the sudden leap and heavy splash of the sturgeon."

However, there is some danger if a boater happens to get too close. Last month, a 32-year-old woman in Florida was knocked unconscious by a leaping sturgeon….

And if you like WPA murals, which I do, although I’m no expert and not even a student of them, here’s a reason to stop in and mail a letter the next time you’re passing through Hyde Park:

Murals that decorate the walls of the Hyde Park post office, which was used by the town's most famous resident, Franklin Roosevelt, include a depiction of two men in a flat-bottom river boat taking in a netted sturgeon while other workers on shore slaughter the fish for their flesh and caviar.