Wednesday, June 13, 2007

When Sturgeon Strike!

A jet skiier was knocked unconscious over the weekend when she collided with a jumping sturgeon. Both she and the fish survived the incident but it's got people talking about the rise in fish-related accidents on the Suwannee River in Florida. In 2006 there were a total of 10 people hurt in human-sturgeon collisions resulting from sturgeon jumping.

If these people sound lame, the sturgeon is actually a sizeable threat: the fish, aside from being scary and prehistoric-looking, can be 8 feet long and weigh up to 200 pounds. It's incredible they can even hoist themselves out of the water, really. One woman, after colliding with a sturgeon, had to have 3 fingers reattached by a surgeon. Not to be confused with sturgeon. A man brings his son to the emergency room for an operation. The sturgeon says, "I can't operate on him - he's my son." You know the rest.

Florida Fish and Wildlife has created an acronym motto for water safety on the Suwannee, S.L.O.W.: Sturgeon Leap Out of Water. They're very literal!

2 comments:

Kim said...

side-splitting laughter, miss G

Erika said...

Even the sturgeon an' the ray
They get the urge 'n' start to play
We got the spirit
You got to hear it
Under the sea!