A FISH out of water in Normanton has left members of a naturalists' society scratching their heads and wondering whether its 'sturgeon' on the ridiculous.


A seven-inch Atlantic sturgeon was found lying on the lawn at the rear of a house on Foxholes Lane, Normanton.
But the sturgeon could have come from an ornamental fishpond according to the man aiming to make Wakefield the caviar capital of Britain.
Peter Barritt, treasurer of Castleford & District Natur-alists' Society, was called in to try to identify the fish, and was shocked to find it was a sturgeon.
He said: "How this fish came to be in a West Yorkshire garden is a mystery. Perhaps it was dropped by a bird which could not swallow it due to the hard triangular formations on its back."
He also wondered whether it could have come from a local fish farm or if there were any caviar-producing fish in the River Calder.
A caviar fish farm is being built at Calder Vale, but project manager Terry Rutter said: "It is not one of ours.
"We are still operating from Huddersfield as we are waiting for the lease to go through in Wakefield.
"Our sturgeon are two-and-a-half feet long. This one could easily have been picked up by a bird from a garden pond. An awful lot of sturgeon are now being imported for ornamental ponds."
Article