Monsters of the Kennebec

Monsters of the Kennebec

The Atlantic Sturgeon

In early summer on the Kennebec River in Bath, Maine, my tour participants have a hard time keeping their eyes on me. That’s because they are often looking out at the Kennebec to catch (or try to catch) glimpses of our local monsters - the Atlantic sturgeon - jumping out of the water. (We also have shortnose sturgeon, less monstrous, but still a sight!)

See any monsters behind me?

The sturgeon - our very own Sasquatch - are endangered, but have been making a comeback, thanks in large part to restrictions on fishing (you cannot fish them) and improved habitat protection. In late spring/early summer, sturgeon head up rivers to spawn (think caviar - or wait, don’t!), then return to the ocean to live their lives, and then return again each year to their birthplaces to spawn again. In Maine and elsewhere, August’s full moon is the Sturgeon Moon, so named by the Wabanaki and other tribal people because the sturgeon were always plentiful then.

My friend Holly stumbled upon this decapitated specimen on a trail near the Kennebec River!

Sturgeon are truly prehistoric (200 million years old), and look it. Their bodies are covered, not with scales, but with scutes (bony or horny plates, like on turtles or crocodiles). Their skeletons are primarily cartilage, not bones. And if that is not enough please note: Atlantic sturgeon can grow up to 14 feet long, weighing as much as 800 pounds!

With this spring/summer’s prolific rain, and ongoing habitat protections, some local sturgeon found a nice new spot to spawn on the Cobbosseecontee in Gardiner, Maine. A local captured this video of the sturgeon there, underwater this time. (The name Cobbosseecontee is a Wabanaki word meaning “many sturgeon”.)

Every local fishing guide has a story about how one ended up on his boat (and scared the #*!@ out of his guests.) A Maine family on a Kennebec River fishing outing tells of their encounter here. One landed on the dock in Bath, shown in some of the the photos in this post, taken by my friend Rob.

Protrusible Mouth

Sturgeon are bottom feeders, vacuuming the river and ocean floors with their protrusible mouths, pictured here.

If you prefer to view them from afar, Downeast Magazine wrote up a “Maine’s Best Bars for Watching the Sturgeon Jump” with one spot in next door Brunswick. I’d add Bath’s Kennebec Tavern and OystHers to the list as well.

Scientists aren’t sure why they jump. The theory I like best - they are gulping air to fill their swim bladder; a full bladder helps them steer themselves while swimming. But hopefully it won’t weigh them down too much - we like (though are a bit scared) to see them jumping!