Fishing News
Exotic, Unseen Fish Of Many Types Lurk In Waters Off Florida
By Joan Monahan, [email protected]
You've probably never seen a sturgeon or an eel except, perhaps, in an aquarium, but both fish are to be found in Florida waters, and both are unusual fish. They just prefer not to be seen.
Sturgeon is the oldest living species of fish. They've been around more than 250 million years. They swam while the dinosaurs roamed the earth.
Some call them "living fossils." They still migrate from their salt-water paths to spawn in rivers like the Apalachicola and Suwannee from January to April.
In the 1800s in Tampa Bay, they were harvested for their meat and eggs, which are a kind of caviar. Tampa Bay provided more sturgeon to the markets than any other fishery port on the Gulf of Mexico. But only a few sturgeon have been found in that area in the past 100 years. Until this year.
The largest one found since 1897 washed up in the area this spring. This sturgeon weighed 127 pounds and provided scientists with a puzzle. Are sturgeons returning to the area to swim up the Alafia or Hillsborough Rivers? Or did this huge fish get lost on its migratory path?
Click Here for Full Story
|
|
