Wisconsin DNR tags 7-foot-3, 240-pound, 125-year-old sturgeon

Duluth News Triubune ^ | April 11, 2012 | : Associated Press report

[DManA]

SHAWANO, Wis. — The state Department of Natural Resources has tagged a 125-year-old sturgeon that's the size of a football linebacker and is the largest on record in Wisconsin.

Officials found the 7-foot-3-inch long, 240-pound female sturgeon in the Wolf River near Shawano on Tuesday, DNR sturgeon biologist Ron Bruch said. He estimated the fish was born around 1887, when Grover Cleveland was president.

[Carriage Hill]

How do you tell the age of a fish? Just wondering.

[cripplecreek]

I think they probably estimate based on size with a known approximate growth rate.

[DManA]

That is an obvious question but for some reason AP reporters never ask the obvious questions.

[Joe 6-pack]

Some fish scales have bands much like tree rings...

[ThomasThomas]

Did they need to cut it in half to count the rings or bands??

[DManA]

[ottbmare]

Idiot writer, fish are not born! Sheesh, didn’t these people go to school at all, ever? It’s a FISH, not a mammal.

[cripplecreek]

I know some fish have a bone inside their heads that grow like that with every year. In this case I’m assuming they used another method.

[DManA]

They fired all the editors.

[ottbmare]

Idiot writer, fish are not born! Sheesh, didn’t these people go to school at all, ever? It’s a FISH, not a mammal.

[Joe 6-pack]

Nope...it just requires the removal of a few scales (technically, it could be done with just one)...

[cripplecreek]

I’m pretty sure that sturgeon lay eggs but some fish and reptiles give birth to live young. (they have eggs but they mature and hatch inside the body before birth.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oviparity

[Carriage Hill]

Over to Post #5. I had no idea.

[Carriage Hill]

W-o-w, Joe. I had no idea. Thanks. That 125yr-old fish must have either very tight rings or very large scales.

[Joe 6-pack]

"I know some fish have a bone inside their heads that grow like that with every year."

Some democrats, too :-)

[Joe 6-pack]

"That 125yr-old fish must have either very tight rings or very large scales."

I suspect both :-) As you might guess, just like tree rings, the annular rings on a fish's scales will tell you quite a bit about that fish's years. If you look at the scales of a farm raised fish that has a steady diet and relatively controlled environment, the rings will tend to be very evenly spaced and regular, whereas a fish from the wild will tend to reflect the lean and fat, cold and warm years with more uneven bands.

[NavyCanDo]

Our Washington/Oregon Sturgeons could swallow this one whole.

The Pacific White Sturgeon caught in Washington’s Columbia River can reach 20ft and nearly 2000 pounds.

[Joe 6-pack]

"I’m pretty sure that sturgeon lay eggs..."

They most certainly do...

[Rebelbase]

First read of the title:

Wisconsin DNR tags 7-foot- 3,240-pound, 125-year-old sturgeon

That’s one big fish.