Credit: DNR
On Tuesday morning, June 3, Turtle Team member Kim Poremski was doing her weekly patrol. She didn’t find loggerhead tracks but instead came upon something frightening washed up on the beach at 21st Avenue.
It resembled a prehistoric sea monster — about five feet long, with five rows of large, bony scutes instead of the scales typically seen on fish. It also had a shark-like tail.
What Kim found was an Atlantic sturgeon. These fish have been known to wash up on the Isle of Palms and Sullivan’s Island in the spring and fall. According to the NOAA Fisheries website, Atlantic sturgeon inhabit rivers and coastal waters from Canada to Florida. They hatch in freshwater, head out to sea, and return to their birthplace to spawn.
They have soft, strange-looking, toothless mouths and projections called barbels that help them sense food such as worms, mollusks, and crustaceans. These are sucked up from the bottom of the ocean and rivers and ground up in their stomachs. Like sea turtles, sturgeon are slow-growing and late-maturing. They can reach up to 14 feet in length, weigh as much as 800 pounds, and live up to 60 years.
Sturgeon and their eggs have been eaten for centuries and are known for producing prized black caviar. They are even credited with helping save the Jamestown colonists from starvation in 1607. Due to overfishing, Atlantic sturgeon have become extremely endangered. They are now protected by the federal Endangered Species Act as well as South Carolina law.
The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) partners with NOAA — the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — to study and protect this ancient species, which has existed since the time of the dinosaurs. Their main threats include incidental catch (bycatch), gill nets, poor water quality, dredging, and vessel strikes. It is illegal to harm or keep them.
When Kim sent a photo, it was quickly identified as a sturgeon. SCDNR on James Island was contacted, as the agency collects any sturgeon found in the area. DNR biologist Jake Sherry responded and arrived at 21st Avenue, where he answered questions from curious onlookers and collected samples so the fish’s age, condition, and other data could be studied.
The sturgeon had been killed by a boat propeller, with visible injuries to the head and tail.
If you see a sturgeon, call 843-953-9821 or email postb@dnr.sc.gov.