Massive sturgeon carcass found along Klamath River

Klamath Falls, Ore. – The body of a massive sturgeon was found along the shores of the Klamath River Thursday.

The carcass was found by PacifiCorp employee Todd Englebrecht during a check of the Keno Dam.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist Bill Tinniswood said the female fish could have weighed up to 500 pounds due to the amount of eggs she was carrying.

Tinniswood, at 6’7” tall, shared a picture of himself next to the sturgeon to illustrate the scale of the 9’6” fish.

In the late 1950s, sturgeon were transplanted to Klamath county from the Columbia River, according to Tinnisman. Since then, there has been no evidence the fish reproduced–making it a possibility this fish was part of that original group, as sturgeon have very long lifespans.

The fish’s inability to spawn due to lack of a mate would explain the millions of eggs in the sturgeon’s body cavity.

This sturgeon wasn’t the first huge creature caught in Klamath County.

In March, 2016, a pair of Bureau of Reclamation Fish Technicians caught an estimated 400-pound sturgeon in their nets. They estimated it to be more than 60-years-old.

The technicians said that sturgeon was so big it was moving their net around the lake before it was released safely back into the wild.