Enormous fish caught in Hudson River measuring a monstrous 6 feet and weighing 220 pounds

During an environmental study in the Hudson River in New York , a massive fish measuring 6 feet long and weighing 220 pounds was discovered, according to officials.

The massive fish was caught last week by employees of the Hudson River Estuary Program while conducting an Atlantic sturgeon survey. “It was suspected to be a female that had not yet spawned,” said the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation in a statement on social media. “The fish was captured under a National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) endangered species research permit.”

Sturgeon are an endangered anadromous fish species, according to officials, that spend the majority of the year in the ocean . However, around this time of year, adults may occasionally migrate from anyplace in Florida to Maine to spawn.

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“This annual survey, which started in 2006, is conducted over the course of several weeks in May and June and is used to track trends in the Atlantic sturgeon population,” officials from the Department of Environmental Conservation said. “Staff use nets to capture the fish, measure it, scan it for a tag (and give it one if it doesn't have one), take a piece of fin for genetic analysis, and weigh it before releasing it back into the wild.”

According to their website, the Hudson River Estuary Program assists people in preserving, restoring, and enjoying the Hudson River and its valley. The program primarily addresses the tidal Hudson and surrounding watershed, which includes upper New York-New Jersey Harbor, from the federal dam at Troy to the Verrazano Narrows in New York City.

Despite being significantly larger than usual, the Atlantic sturgeon is the largest fish in the Hudson River and the largest species of sturgeon found in New York; the other two species are the shortnose and lake sturgeons.

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Long-lived and late-maturing fish, sturgeons are distinguished by their heterocercal caudal fin, which resembles that of sharks, and their elongated, spindle-shaped body, which is smooth-skinned, scaleless, and protected by five rows of bony plates called scutes.

Some species can reach lengths of up to 3.5 m (7–12 ft), which is rather substantial. A beluga female sturgeon that was caught in the Volga Delta in 1827, measuring 7.2 m (23 ft 7 in) in length and 1,571 kg (3,463 lb), was the largest sturgeon ever recorded. The majority of sturgeons are anadromous bottom feeders, spending the majority of their lives in river deltas and estuaries and migrating upstream to spawn.

While some species are known to occasionally wander into the open ocean, others primarily live in marine habitats close to coastal locations. Some species are only found in freshwater environments.