Lament for Harald the Sturgeon, Op 238

4 years ago
50

Scenario From ABC News:
Alas, poor Harald. Wired up to a satellite transmitter, he had much to teach science about the life of the great sturgeons of the Danube River and Black Sea.
When in 2009 a team of Romanian and Norwegian researchers attached a satellite transmitter to Harald's 2.9 meter (9-foot) body, they hoped the data beamed back would show them ways of halting the rapid drop in the sturgeons' numbers. But now the Beluga sturgeon is missing, presumed to be a victim of poachers.
But as Harald's story illustrates, the threats have not disappeared.
He made his way downstream to the Danube Delta and into the Black Sea. Abhorring light, he stayed in murky depths of 10 to 50 meters (30-150 feet).
Scientists pieced together his movements from 11,000 messages transmitted over five days after the tag reached the surface six months later.
Harald had foraged for herring, sprats, mackerel and other small fish for several weeks. Then in October he swam north.
Suddenly, on Nov. 2, he stopped moving. For three days he stayed on the bottom of the sea, 65 meters (215 feet) down, immobile.
During the night of Nov. 6, sometime after 2 a.m., Harald rose swiftly to the surface, and went in a straight line, 11 kilometers (7 miles) to the Crimean coast. He remained offshore for two days and on land for another two. The transmitter's final messages, plotted with the help of Google Earth, indicated movement along a railway line.

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