Big ball of sturgeon in Columbia River baffles experts
...The mountain of white sturgeon contained around 60,000 fish, according to a rough estimate by Michael Parsley, a research fisheries biologist with the U.S.
...The lingering question is: What were all the fish doing there?
http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2008/05/big_ball_of_columbia_river_stu.html
hypatia
May17-08, 09:04 AM
A sturgeon party and we were not invited?
turbo-1
May17-08, 09:13 AM
Auditioning for the chance to be a PF greeter!
hypatia
May17-08, 02:37 PM
My husband has informed me of his sighting of masses of sturgeon in the Grand River, here in MI. Nothing anywhere near that amount, but he said perhaps several hundred, and noted its a much smaller river.
I wonder if the PF insurance would cover a injury due to a sturgeon wack?
turbo-1
May17-08, 02:46 PM
I wonder if the PF insurance would cover a injury due to a sturgeon wack?I would be more concerned about the PF sisters blowing out their disks even just trying to pick up one of those monsters. Some of the largest can easily grow to thousands of pounds.
Ivan Seeking
May17-08, 03:02 PM
My husband has informed me of his sighting of masses of sturgeon in the Grand River, here in MI. Nothing anywhere near that amount, but he said perhaps several hundred, and noted its a much smaller river.
Interesting! We have a second account of behavior that apparently was previously unknown to science.
lisab
May17-08, 11:46 PM
My first thought was of garter snakes, who gather in large groups for mating.
Phrak
May18-08, 12:23 AM
Grasshopper. What is the sound of one sturgeon swarming?
by the way, Im on th look-out for recipes for sturgeon ball soup.
matthyaouw
May18-08, 05:11 AM
Interesting! We have a second account of behavior that apparently was previously unknown to science.
Was it entirely unknown? The article gave the impression the behaviour had been seen before, just not on this scale
"Biologists have heard reports of congregations of sturgeon at the surface of reservoirs and rivers, including shallow parts of the Columbia."
Ivan Seeking
May18-08, 06:36 AM
Sure enough. The report I saw made it sound like a complete mystery and I didn't read the entire report linked.
Ivan Seeking
May18-08, 07:35 AM
My first thought was of garter snakes, who gather in large groups for mating.
And hippies.
Moonbear
May18-08, 08:13 PM
Several things popped into my mind as possibilities when reading the article:
1) Mating (not sure what's known about sturgeon mating and if this could be part of it).
2) Safety in numbers while dormant or hibernating of some sort.
3) Some sort of insulation from colder water temperatures...at least for those in the middle.
4) Don't know how to swim through the dam but sure are trying.
I'd love to see some of the pictures of the sturgeon ball.