A freshwater sturgeon weighing 55 kilograms and 170 centimeters long was caught Monday off the coast of Taean, South Chungcheong Province.
The rare wild fish was auctioned off for 450,000 won ($403) at the Anheung fish market in Sinjindo-ri, Geunheung-myeon. Sturgeons are designated for protection. The National Fisheries Research & Development Institute bought the auctioned sturgeon for research purposes.
This is the first time the marine fish market has dealt a freshwater sturgeon.
A freshwater sturgeon weighing 55 kilograms was caught off the coast of Taean, South Chungcheong Province, on Monday. (Yonhap)
A person working with the Anheung market told the media that in Korea, sturgeons are usually farm bred in freshwater, with their most adjacent points of natural habitat being Japan’s Kyushu and China’s Yangtze rivers.
There have been previous reports of the fish being sighted at coasts connecting to the mouth of the Han, Geum and Yeongsan rivers, but the cases of a wild sturgeon actually being caught are very rare in Korea.
A sturgeon has no teeth, and its head and body have a bluish gray-brown tint with its belly a shiny silver.
By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)
