Big Catch! Giant 100-Year-Old, 7-Feet Long Sturgeon Caught in Detroit

A 240-pound sturgeon believed to be more than 100 years old was caught in the Detroit River by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in a rare and remarkable catch.

In a Facebook post from the USFWS that has been shared more than 44,000 times, the agency details that the extreme haul measures about 7 feet (about 2.1 meters long). Also, judging by its girth and size, the wildlife service said that it was most likely a female that has been swimming along the Detroit River for the last hundred years or so.

After being weighed and measured, the USFWS released the giant sturgeon back into the river.

A Long, Tiring Haul

The presumably female sturgeon was caught by a three-person crew of the USFWS conducting an annual study on the lake sturgeons last April 22 along the Detroit River, the section near Grosse Ile in southern Detroit. They reportedly used a frozen round goby, a small fish part of the sturgeon's steady diet, as bait on a long line drifting deep in the river.

A strong force took the bait and took the team six minutes to get it on board with the help of a net. "I felt the fish thumping on the line. As it got closer, it just got bigger and bigger," said USFWS member Jason Fischer in a statement, who was on the routine study with fellow biologists Jennifer Johnson and Paige Wigren.

"She was tired out and didn't fight us very much," Wigren noted.

The Long Life of Lake Sturgeons

Formally designated as Acipenser fulvescnes, lake sturgeons have an average lifespan of 55 years for its males and 70 to 100 years for females, according to its webpage on the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. They are easily distinguishable by their five rows of bony plates, which are more pronounced in young sturgeons, but grow less notable as they grow older. Additionally, a lake sturgeon has a large "protrusible, suctorial mouth" on the bottom side of its head. At the front of its mouth, beneath the snout, are four barbels - sensory organs that help the fish find prey in the river and lake bottoms.

Additionally, the state department of natural resources explains that the species are currently listed as threatened. The state prohibits commercial fishing of the species and closely regulates fishing for sport. For example, fishermen who harvest these fishes are required to register their catch within 24 hours. Additionally, lake sturgeon harvest for sport is limited to only one fish per angler, with additional restrictions on the locations where it was caught and the size and weight of the catch.

Currently, the state departments in the Great Lakes Basin area are working to repopulate lake sturgeons in the area and "reclaim the historical connection between this fish and people." The Michigan Department of Natural Resources additionally notes that federal, state, and tribal agencies have worked together to rehabilitate the lake sturgeons since the turn of the millennium.

Check out more news and information on the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Science Times.