The white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus, meaning "sturgeon beyond the mountains"), also known as the Pacific sturgeon, Oregon sturgeon, Columbia sturgeon, Sacramento sturgeon, and California white sturgeon, is a sturgeon (a fish of the family Acipenseridae) which lives along the west coast of North America from the Aleutian Islands to Central California.
It is the largest freshwater fish in North America and is the third largest species of sturgeon, after the Beluga and the Kaluga. The white sturgeon is known to reach a maximum size of 816 kg (1,799 lb) and 6.1 m (20 ft).
The largest sturgeon caught on record was caught on Fraser River, in British Columbia, and weighed an estimated 1,100 pounds (498.9 kg) and measured 12 feet, 4 inches. The sturgeon was caught by Michael Snell of Salisbury, England, and was later released.
Read more about White Sturgeon: Physical Appearance, Habitat, Diet
Famous quotes containing the words white and/or sturgeon:
“... in 1950 a very large slice of the white South stood at the crossroads in its attitude toward its colored citizens and [was] psychologically capable of turning either way.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 1, ch. 8 (1962)
“You were right: the sturgeon was a little off!”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (18601904)