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.

[DManA]

Are they older or do they grow faster?

[2111USMC]

That’s how I first read it too.

[DManA]

Onlyest thing is sturgeons don’t have scales.

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

[Rebelbase]

I went back to re-read it when I got to the part that said it was a big a linebacker.

That’s one big linebacker.

[The Antiyuppie]

I have read that apparently some fish don’t seem to have an upper limit to their lives once they become large enough to be at the top of the food chain in their environment, and no disease, injury or toxin gets to them. Supposedly, there were one-ton catfish in the Mississippi River when the early settlers arrived. That may have worked out to several hundred years of age.

[InvisibleChurch]

7’ 3”, 240? It’ll end up a Kentucky Wildcat.

[InvisibleChurch]

please do not question the government . now go back about your business

[Grammy]

Wow! Girl, you’re going to want to see this.

[DManA]

If you read REALLY fast it was 3,240,125 lbs. ggg

[CrazyIvan]

It must be very expensive for a 7-foot-3, 240-pound, 125-year-old sturgeon to get malpractice insurance.

[TheConservativeParty]

WI Ping

Sturgeon Recalled From Lake Near Shawano.

[free me]

By examining the spine in the pectoral fin the age of the fish can be determined. A thin section of the spine is cut and examined under a magnifying scope. Visible in the section are rings, somewhat like the growth rings in a tree trunk. By counting the rings, biologists can determine the age of the fish.

http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/areas/fisheries/hinckley/rivers/sturgeonstudy.html

In dead fish that have decomposed they examine the otoliths and count the rings. They can age them to the day using this method in some species.

[waterhill]

Thought sturgeons were like catfish, no scales.

How do you age a fish with no scales?

Alligator Gar get bigger than that in less/fewer years. But they have scales. And they can get hugh, I am series

[sjmjax]

How do you tell the age of a fish?

In Wisconsin it's easy. They just checked its voting record. It's been a good Democrat.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Wisconsin Big Fish ping

FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.

[goat granny]

I have had both red and black caviar...they both taste like salty BB’s.

[Carriage Hill]

Thanks; that’s very enlightening. I never knew it. I always thought it was a size vs growth “educated” guess, or something along those lines. Can they do that with ancient human remains, too? Or is it carbon dating the bone/fossils?

[Carriage Hill]

LOL! Makes perfect sense to me.

[SJackson]

If you’d like to be on or off this Outdoors/Rural/wildlife/hunting/hiking/backpacking/National Parks/animals list please FR mail me. And ping me is you see articles of interest.

[JRios1968]

How do you tell the age of a fish?

It told the DNR pointyheads its memories of being caught and released by a teenaged Helen Thomas.