Rare 7 foot Atlantic Stugeon wash's up on shoreline in the Nutmeg State

 Connecticut biologists are in the process of trying to find out why a seven foot protected species Atlantic Sturgeon died and washed up on shore on the 26th of April, 2014 .The large prehistoric looking fish was quite a sight for people walking the shoreline.
 The State from 1988-1994 employes from the Deep Division staff collected, tagged and released 325 Short-Nosed Sturgeon. Data from recaptured fish were used to estimate the total population of adult short nosed sturgeon at approximately 850 of the fish in the lower Connecticut River.( between the Holyoke Dam in Massachusetts and the river mouth) The fish were tagged and some implanted with surgical ultrasound transmitters so that their individual movements could be tracked over a 1-2 year period.
  The fish are known to be a very hardy and long lived (50-75 years) and have a delayed maturity rate. The species do not spawn till age 15 to 25 years. Non -annual making them extremely vulnerable to a population decline and a possible extinction.
 This one that washed up is a much larger cousin called the Atlantic Sturgeon and was made famous on their highly sought after caviar. The fish was near the Elys Ferry Road at the Lyme/Old Lyme mouth of the Connecticut River. It has been determined that the large fish was a female with immature eggs. The biologists are still working to age the fish. Both species of the sturgeon are endangered and it is illegal to disturb them.  Wayne