Updated 05/22/2011 01:51 PM
Mystery East River Fish Identified As Sturgeon
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An Atlantic sturgeon that measured six- to seven-feet long and about two feet wide was dragged ashore near the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge on Saturday.
The creature's head. Click to enlarge.
People who gathered around the sturgeon near Pier 17 did not know what to make of it.
"It was closer to the shallow water, so it looked like the current was going to bring it back in. So I dragged it more up towards the sand, and that's when I realized it was super, super heavy," said one onlooker.
Experts from the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation identified the fish for NY1's benefit.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a 1995 study found that there were about 9,500 juvenile Atlantic sturgeons in the Hudson River.