10
BROOKLYN WEEKLY, FEB. 24, 2019
LET OUR CLAIMS DEPARTMENT
COLLECT FROM THE RESPONSIBLE
INSURANCE COMPANY INCLUDING
IMMEDIATE CAR RENTAL
You Benefi t By Keeping Your Insurance
Rates Down While Maintaining
An Excellent Driving Record
IMMEDIATE CAR RENTAL
BIG FISH, SMALL POND: Five endangered Atlantic sturgeon arrived at the New York Aquarium’s
“Ocean Wonders: Sharks!” exhibit this month, as part of a push to educate locals about the sea creatures
that formerly populated the Empire State’s waterways. Julie Larsen Maher
3511 Fort Hamilton Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11218
- 10 Blocks from Ocean Parkway on Ft. Hamilton Parkway -
Established 1958
Offi cial Insurance Inspection Station
CALL
ANYTIME
24/7
TOWING
FROM
ANY
LOCATION
FT HAM ILTON PK Y
CHURCH AV
CATON AV
LY N D E N BLV D
37 ST
McDONALD AV
CONEY ISLAND AV
OCEAN AV
FLATBUSH AV
36 ST
PARK
SLOPE
FLATBUSH
BAY
RIDGE
NEW
UTREC T
SHOP
LEAVE ALL YOUR CONCERNS WITH US
SATISFACTION IS OUR CONCERN!
BY JULIANNE MCSHANE
Call them big fi sh in a
small pond.
Five endangered ocean
dwellers arrived at Coney
Island’s New York
Aquarium this month,
just a short stretch of sand
away from their historical
home. The fi ve- to six-footlong
Atlantic sturgeon
were once so common
in the Hudson River and
waters upstate that people
called them “Albany
beef,” but so many wound
up on dinner plates that
the species neared extinction.
Their presence in the
aquatic zoo will help educate
New Yorkers about
the fi sh’s historical importance
and efforts to keep
them alive, according to
the Aquarium’s director.
“In past centuries, the
species was a big part of
New York State’s regional
trade in sturgeon meat and
caviar,” said Jon Forrest
Dohlin, who is also the
vice president of the Wildlife
Conservation Society,
which works to preserve
land and species across the
globe. “Of course, things
have changed, and conservationists
in New York and
elsewhere are now committed
to saving this imperiled
species.”
The sturgeons, which
weigh more than 120
pounds each, now swim
within the Aquarium’s
“Ocean Wonders: Sharks!”
exhibit, which is fashioned
after their native habitat
in the Hudson Canyon ecosystem,
according to the
Wildlife Conservation Society.
The slippery swimmers
arrived in the People’s
Playground from their previous
home at the Cooperative
Oxford Laboratory
in Maryland, where they
were part of a spawn-andrelease
program. A ban
on capturing the beasts
took effect in 1998, but the
crackdown had little effect
on their numbers, according
to the conservation
group, which notes Atlantic
sturgeons have been on
the endangered-species list
since 2012 due to a combination
of overfi shing, habitat
loss, and pollution.
The fi sh are sure to
stand out from the sharks
featured in the exhibit,
thanks to their rows of
bony plates, and tube-like
mouths lined with feelers
to detect prey at the bottom
of the sea. The fi sh
in the exhibit are the size
of a small adult, but other
members of the species can
grow up to 14-feet long and
weigh up to 800 pounds, according
to the Conservation
society.
The sturgeons arrived
at the Aquarium at the
same time the institution
received a designation as
a satellite research facility
by the federal Fish and
Wildlife Service, which
will allow it to offer educational
programming about
other endangered fi sh that
once called the Hudson
home, reps for the society
said.
It’s a fi sh tale
Endangered sea creatures join exhibit
at Coney Island’s New York Aquarium