Ida is a [drum roll, please] Acipenser oxyrinchus oxyrinchus. I knew it was on the tip of your tongue, and yes, we will translate it for you.
As we wrote on the 20th, Arnie found her on the beach. She’d been there a spell (no smell), and while she was no longer in her full regalia, her colors were magnificent. Here is a detail of her body …
We studied her from the head …
… then the tail.
When Arnie first led me to her, he was careful of his approach so that I would see the salmon color first. It was so bright that I thought it might, indeed, be a salmon.
Ultimately, the shot I like the most was the one first posted for this challenge.
Please meet Ida, the Wayward Sturgeon (reference to an old, irreverent song). She is an Atlantic Sturgeon, a species that can live up to 60 years, have a length of up to 14 feet, and weigh up to 800 pounds. That’s a lot of sturgeon! Of course, Ida could be a “he,” but I thought of her as Ida, and I don’t know many males with that name.
Those shell-like scales on her are called “scutes.” I think I met that word from a New York Times crossword puzzle from eons ago and long forgotten.
Like the Atlantic Salmon, the Atlantic Sturgeon swims up fresh-water rivers to spawn. A female lays anywhere from 400,000 to 8,000,000 eggs. I can’t even count that high!
If you want to read more about this fascinating and prehistoric-looking creature, go to the NOAA site.
Meanwhile, thanks to all of you who hazarded a guess.
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Many thanks. I thought of different fish, but couldn’t figure out one that had this type of markings. Now, of course, makes perfect sense. Thanks for the fun and the photo.
It is a bit of a strange one, John, which is why it was such a perfect candidate. Look for more of these challenges in the future. Hopefully, they will be just as hard to guess. I love, however, the imaginative ideas people put forth. Great guesses.
Take care,
TBC