Shake Hands With "Albany Beef"
March 7, 2019 12:57 PM Subscribe
"One day last June, two researchers were towing a special sonar system up and down the Hudson River near Hyde Park, New York, the site of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s home, when they saw something pleasantly shocking." They had spotted a 14-foot sturgeon via side-scan sonar imaging. Sturgeon were once so plentiful in the Hudson they were referred to as "Albany beef." The discovery of a 14-foot specimen in the river is an encouraging sign in what is otherwise a dire outlook for certain sturgeon populations.
(But also yay for conservation and glimmers of hope, just...not...near me.)
posted by schadenfrau at 1:06 PM on March 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by schadenfrau at 1:06 PM on March 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
Just imagine one coming up through the ice.
OTOH, they're very chill bottom feeders.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 1:14 PM on March 7, 2019 [2 favorites]
OTOH, they're very chill bottom feeders.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 1:14 PM on March 7, 2019 [2 favorites]
Ohhhhhhhhhhh OK so that's how you make a steamed ham.
posted by overeducated_alligator at 1:18 PM on March 7, 2019 [14 favorites]
posted by overeducated_alligator at 1:18 PM on March 7, 2019 [14 favorites]
And that's how overeducated_alligator got "flagged as fantastic".
posted by darkstar at 1:23 PM on March 7, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by darkstar at 1:23 PM on March 7, 2019 [2 favorites]
I keep thinking about one brushing against my leg in murky water and then just...keep...brushing...for...fourteen feet
posted by schadenfrau at 1:23 PM on March 7, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by schadenfrau at 1:23 PM on March 7, 2019 [9 favorites]
When I was 14 I caught one just over seven feet in the Columbia River. Too big to keep, it felt like catching a dinosaur.
Growing up a number of family friends were dam workers. They claimed the really big ones liked to hang out in the deep near the base of the dams.
posted by Tenuki at 2:29 PM on March 7, 2019 [6 favorites]
Growing up a number of family friends were dam workers. They claimed the really big ones liked to hang out in the deep near the base of the dams.
posted by Tenuki at 2:29 PM on March 7, 2019 [6 favorites]
Herman the Sturgeon, one of these days I'm going to do an fpp on Oregon's most famous fish. He's been kidnapped (fishnapped?), attacked and stabbed by a maniac, and threatened with death from a wildfire. You can visit him at the fish hatchery next to Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River.
posted by 445supermag at 4:01 PM on March 7, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by 445supermag at 4:01 PM on March 7, 2019 [5 favorites]
Albany Beef is also Upstate’s finest male review. Half price drinks until 7!
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 5:26 PM on March 7, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 5:26 PM on March 7, 2019 [7 favorites]
Is it edible?
When I was younger, they told us not to eat the fish from the Hudson, mainly because of the PCBs from GE, but also because of mercury and other various nasty stuff.
posted by madajb at 5:43 PM on March 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
When I was younger, they told us not to eat the fish from the Hudson, mainly because of the PCBs from GE, but also because of mercury and other various nasty stuff.
posted by madajb at 5:43 PM on March 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
Reintroduction of Sturgeon to Maumee River, Ohio (slyt)
posted by zakur at 5:47 PM on March 7, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by zakur at 5:47 PM on March 7, 2019 [3 favorites]
Andrew Revkin, the author of the NatGeo piece, has been tweeting more background about the story.
posted by gwint at 6:46 PM on March 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by gwint at 6:46 PM on March 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
One of these breached right next to me when I was walking out on some rocks in the river off the dock behind the Mills Mansion in Staatsburgh (just up the Hudson River from Hyde Park) several years back. Seeing how long it took for it to go back underwater helped me understand how Native Americans and early European settlers thought a sea serpent lived in the Hudson.
posted by KingEdRa at 7:38 PM on March 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by KingEdRa at 7:38 PM on March 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
Andrew Revkin, the author of the NatGeo piece, has been tweeting more background about the story.
Geez:
It was also particularly enthralling to envision a 14 foot Atlantic sturgeon, likely weighing 600 pounds or more, given the closeup view I had in 2010 when I shot this video of a ~7-foot, 120-pound male and was invited to help release him.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:33 PM on March 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
Geez:
It was also particularly enthralling to envision a 14 foot Atlantic sturgeon, likely weighing 600 pounds or more, given the closeup view I had in 2010 when I shot this video of a ~7-foot, 120-pound male and was invited to help release him.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 9:33 PM on March 7, 2019 [1 favorite]
Nice oblique Primus reference.
posted by furtive at 9:45 PM on March 7, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by furtive at 9:45 PM on March 7, 2019 [3 favorites]
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posted by schadenfrau at 1:04 PM on March 7, 2019 [8 favorites]