From depths of the Charles, an endangered species surfaces

A sturgeon is not actually a dinosaur, but this is an interesting article.
From Boston.com: From depths of the Charles, an endangered species surfaces

As Rick Bellitti walked along the Charles River Locks this month, he spotted a looming figure in the water below. Probably a piece of driftwood, he figured. Until he saw it swimming slowly toward him.

“He was right there on the surface,’’ Bellitti, a 36-year-old accountant, recalled recently. “A prehistoric, floating dinosaur. Covered in armor.’’

Turns out, Bellitti had happened upon an Atlantic sturgeon, an ancient, endangered species that had not been spotted around the Charles River for as long as anyone could remember.

Bellitti had no idea what the strange creature was, but was certain he had never seen anything like it, so he took pictures with his phone. Once specialists got a look at the sharp-snouted fish, a 3-foot-long juvenile, they were immediately convinced.

“No doubt about the identification,’’ said Tom French, an assistant director at the state’s fisheries and wildlife division. “It’s clear.’’

The confirmed sighting delighted aquatic specialists, who said sturgeon, famed for their caviar and predating dinosaurs, are fighting for their survival.

“The fact that one has been spotted in our area is certainly good news,’’ said Julie Wood, watershed scientist at the Charles River Watershed Association. Wood said no one she has spoken to had ever heard of a sturgeon spotted near the Charles.

The week before the sighting, the federal government listed Atlantic sturgeon as endangered in five areas along the Atlantic, and as threatened in the Gulf of Maine.

“There’s no resident population in the Charles,’’ said Matt Ayer, an aquatic biologist with the state’s marine fisheries division. “I would guess it’s been quite a while since one was officially sighted.’’

Juvenile sturgeon travel extensively and feed in freshwater habitats before moving out to sea as they mature.

In Colonial times, sturgeon were abundant, but overfishing and limited access to freshwater spawning areas reduced their numbers over time. Pollution of the Charles peaked in the last century, according to the watershed association, but decades of effort have turned it into one of the nation’s cleanest urban rivers.

However, it is unclear why the sturgeon has reappeared. For more than a decade, in hopes of boosting the population of Atlantic sturgeon, it has been illegal for fishermen to catch or keep the fish.

Enormous fish that can weigh more than 800 pounds, sturgeon are sometimes spotted in the Merrimack River north of Boston, where they startle fishermen with sudden leaps and thunderous landings.

“When they hit the water, it sounds like a piano dropped,’’ Ayer said.