![]() As the largest freshwater fish within the Great Lakes, lake sturgeon can grow up to nine feet long and weigh more than 300 pounds per the U.S. The fish's natural habitat spans freshwaters in North America, including the Great Lakes basin, the Hudson Bay and Mississippi River drainages, where they feed along the bottom of lakes and riverbeds for small invertebrates, reports Amy Woodyatt for CNN. Lake sturgeons have a striking appearance, with shark-like tails, five rows of bony plates called scutes lining their brownish gray bodies, and whisker-like barbels below a rounded snout. "All of the sudden, this gray and white shadow came to the surface, and for about 5 to 8 minutes, we struggled to try to get the fish into the net," said biologist Paige Wigren to NPR. After the scientists felt a bite on their line, it took the crew of three scientists several minutes to haul the "real life river monster" into their boat using a net, according to a Facebook post from the Alpena Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office. The sizeable sturgeon was caught using a frozen round goby as bait, attached to a line that reached deep into the Detroit river, reports Mike Jordan for the Guardian. ![]() ![]() Officials suspect it may also be one of the largest lake sturgeons ever recorded in the United States. Weighing in at 240 pounds and measuring nearly seven feet long with a girth of about four feet, the female fish is estimated to be at least 100 years old, reports Annamarie Sysling for NPR. On April 22, during an annual survey of the lake sturgeon population in a river in Michigan, biologists reeled in a colossal catch.
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