Wednesday, April 7, 2010

WHITE STURGEON OF KOOTENAI RIVER

Have you tasted Caviar?

Or do you have any idea what caviar is in the first place?

Caviar is fish roes harvested from fish species such as the famous sturgeon and sold at very high, if not exhorbitant prices in the market.

One very famous species of fish that is the source of caviar is the Kootenai river White sturgeon.

White sturgeons are prehistoric or dinosaur kind of fish that live up to 60 years old and can attain 6 metres in length and reach 850 kg.

They are believed to have evolved nearly 400 million years ago.

They are found in Kootenai river that flows through the states of Idaho, Montana and British Columbia.

The construction of a dam resulted in the very serious decline in the fish population. It is believed that the dam causes serious siltation which kills most of the eggs laid at the bottom of the river.

Normally, in normal flowing river, the bed is lined with stones and cobbles which provide a good egg depositing site. The eggs will get hooked on to the stones and when they hatch, the youngs will find cover in between the stones.

But with siltation, the eggs will be covered by so much silt that they suffocate and die.

NGO's in the States have tried their best to bring back the number of these wonderful fish.

Wild fish brood stocks are caught and viable eggs are recovered and hatched in the lab. Only when they are about 8 inches they are released back into the river hoping that they live to maturity and start to breed again.

The dam authority is also finding ways to recreate the river flow to prevent excessive siltation of the river bed.

It is the people's interest that fascinates me. They go all out to save the majestic creature - the White sturgeon of Kootenai river!

3 comments:

Martin Lee said...

These are the good characters that we have to choose and emulate from the Americans! I also want to give my due respect to the gentlemen behavior between the Democrat and GOP candidates after the presidential election result was announced. They accepted the defeat and are willing to work together and build a nation as 1America instead of smearing image or sabotaging each other! What a strong contrast to what is happening in Malaysia!

azahar said...

They stop active politicking once the election is over. In contrast, here, they continue active politicking forever...doing much damage to the nation's image with the constant bickerings.

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