8-Foot Long Sturgeon Spotted Floating Dead in Washington Lake

A gigantic 8-foot long dead sturgeon was spotted by a Seattle resident in Lake Washington on Saturday.

On noticing the monstrous dead fish floating in the lake, Keith Magnuson the Seattle resident,  first thought that it was a shark.

DNA samples of the sturgeon have been collected by the Biologists along with the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Sturgeon is the common name given to 26 species of fish that belong to the family Acipenseridae. They are one of the oldest (dating back to pre-historic times) families of fish living and are native to the subtropical, temperate and sub Arctic rivers, lakes. Their elongated bodies lack scales and they grow up to 12 feet and weigh 1000 pounds or about. According to the IUCN, 85 percent of the sturgeon are listed as endangered (Wikipedia).

"It is not a common fish to find in the lake and rather unique," said Annette Hoffman, a state Fish and Wildlife biologist in Mill Creek. "We recalled another sturgeon was found in the lake (back in 1987 that was 11 feet long and weighed 640 pounds)."

According to the biologists, the fish that was discovered in 1987 was approximately 80-100 years old.

Hoffman says that  these are the largest freshwater fish in the world and are bottom feeders and it is very difficult to spot these species.