Is There a Sturgeon in the House?

Before we dive into the sturgeon sighting (“5-1/2 Foot Long Sea Creature Inspires Fear, Awe!”), Seattlest wants to reminisce a little. The year was 1986. It was a warm spring. And people were claiming to see alligators in Green Lake. There was even a novelty song. Who knew it was for real?

Keep a hankie handy, because the pair of caiman captured were starving and hypothermic, and both died. (For more on Seattle’s extensive reptilian history, the King County Journal sums things up nicely here.)

Then we heard stories about enormous sturgeon gamboling about Lake Washington, which always seemed timed just before we were about to dive off the sailboat into the water. Not that sturgeon feast on human flesh, but Seattlest is jumpy about bumping into large aquatic animals when we’re not entirely sober.

Last March, reporters perched along the banks of Loch Washington as new sightings of oversized aquatic life surfaced. But it took some plucky University of Washington researchers to snare the alleged beastie, a white sturgeon coming up on 6 feet in length. (A dead one, found in 1987, was 11 feet!) They practice catch-and-release, so it’s still out there. Swim at your own risk.