Times-Dispatch environment reporter Rex Springston and his wife, Kathy, were walking beside the marshy area at Henricus Park Tuesday (4/22) afternoon when they saw a strange creature swimming amid the pickerel weeds about 50 yards away. The animal was slowly moving forward, but also up and down in the water, showing what appeared to be part of a forked tail and possibly its back. ¶

Almost immediately, Springston thought it might be an Atlantic sturgeon, a rare fish that can top 9 feet in length. This creature was hard to judge, because of the distance, but appeared to be perhaps 3 to 4 feet long. Springston was familiar with sturgeons because he has written several stories about experts’ efforts to help them make a comeback in the James River. ¶

“This was an exciting thing to see, but it seemed like an awfully strange place for a sturgeon,” he said.

The Henricus marsh lies near the James, and he figured a fish could get in during high water—perhaps during the recent rains. Springston snapped a Loch Ness monster-style photo that appears to show part of the tail and the head of the creature. He also thought the animal could be a snapping turtle, but he had never seen a snapper swim with its tail protruding from the water. Kathy Springston said the animal appeared fish-like, with an extended body, not round-backed like a turtle. ¶

Springston e-mailed his picture to fish experts Greg Garman of Virginia Commonwealth University and Bob Greenlee of the state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. They said the animal, indeed, was probably an Atlantic sturgeon.

Posted by Andy Thompson in • Outdoors
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