Sturgeon - Thames

[ben_weir]

Yeah it went bobbing past on the Friday lunch time....to say I was lost for words - well I had just sorted an article on sturgeon and how they hadn't been any in British waters for years only to spot one minutes later!!

 

I wouldn't of thought it lasted long at all the poor thing has probably gone from someones back garden pond to being plopped into the dirty, turbid tidal Thames...two very different environments I'm sure you would agree.

 

Having chatted to a few experts I have been told that this time of year they bury themselves in weed and as they dont have the ability to swim backwards they subsequently persih! Then their ever caring owner drops it in the the Thames..... or of course it may have just got to big for someones pond so they dumped it.

 

Either way not only illegal but pretty cruel in my book!!!

[Elton]

Yep, definitely cruel. A pet shop wiould probably gladly take it back (although I'm not sure how that works on the legal front).

 

Mine used to do the weed thing - I was forever freeing them, but my mate had a few die like that.

 

Their other 'favourite pastime' was swimming into the pump

 

If ever there was a water problem, such a low oxygen or algae, they were always the first to perish.

 

Great fun when they were alive, though, often raising themselves out of the water at feeding time.

[fantasticfisherman]

Elton:

Hi Ben,

I used to have smaller (a lot smaller) diamond sturgeon in my pond and they were always extremely difficult to keep, which is why I don't bother with them. If this fish was removed from a pond and placed in the Thames, I'd hazard a guess that it didn't last long

my dad used to have a couple of sturgeon but they didn't last long either because we didn't know what they fed on in tanks

[argyll]

take it that was a joke, Argyll?

 

Well thats why I put a smiley in Elton. But if it offended then I apologise, although I've seen much worse to apologise for.

[DavyR]

Yeah, like Angela, the Anglers Mail Maid - anyone remember her? Marked the start of the decline in angling journalism as Tiswas did for children's TV...

[DJMCJERICO]

What a muppet whoever dumped it, the price these things go for even at babys.

Should of given it to a zoo or something for all to enjoy.

[DavyR]

Angela in a zoo???

[poledark]

Couldn't help smiling a bit at this quote,

 

 

"Yeah it went bobbing past on the Friday lunch time....to say I was lost for words - well I had just sorted an article on sturgeon and how they hadn't been any in British waters for years only to spot one minutes later!!"

 

but then I am a cynical old b####r

 

Den

 

[ 15. July 2005, 07:43 PM: Message edited by: poledark ]

[Uncle Fester]

I can't help but think that Ben's estimate of 10-15lb (which I don't doubt for a minute) makes it a bloomin big fish to have survived in captivity.

I guess it must take quite a few years to get one to that size (not to mention a pond the size of an Olympic pool) and I find the thought of someone taking care of it for that period, only to turf it out into the Thames inexplicable. Is it possible that it came there naturally? Just because they don't get caught, doesn't mean they aren't there. Few people fished the Thames for carp until a few years ago did they. Or am I just be a romantic old fool.....?

Maybe I'll go sturgeon fishing tomorrow. Hey Elton, what do they eat? I take it I'll be fishing in the weeds!

Unc F

[Vagabond]

Uncle Fester:

I can't help but think that Ben's estimate of 10-15lb (which I don't doubt for a minute) makes it a bloomin big fish to have survived in captivity.

I know of at least one commercial water where sterlets of that size are caught regularly - its not a thousand miles from the Thames either.