Critically Endangered
Around the World in 80 Days - Day 46
These are the largest of freshwater fish. They don't spend the whole life in freshwater, as juveniles they spend some time in a marine environment. The Beluga is bigger (or at least some have been found that are), but they live in the sea while the Kaluga spends most of its life in the Amur river. They can be almost 19 feet long and 2200 pounds or more! Unfortunately the largest ones are not to be found much anymore. They continue to grow as they age, and getting to be an old Kaluga is a tough job. It is illegal to fish for them in the Amur river, but that hasn't stopped people from catching them. The river has become more polluted too, but fishing is by far their biggest threat. They do not reach the age where they can spawn until the female is 14-23 years old. The oldest known Kaluga was 80 years old.
Tomorrow I will be painting in Eastern Washington. I have to take my son to do a practice for his indoor drum corp thing he's part of. Besides, I enjoy spending the time with him on the way there and back. I will probably be doing it next Saturday as well. My son was going to get his driver's license, and then the pandemic struck and it was not possible to get an appointment. Now that you can get in, it can take months. It isn't really a priority for us right now. Neither of my kids are the stereotypical guy who wants a car and wants their license the minute they turn 16 either. We live very close to their school. Neither have really needed a license because they can walk to school faster than they could drive most days. Traffic in the morning will back up and means it can take forever to get into the school parking lot, where walking is quick and easy. It was especially nice when my oldest was on swim team and they had to be on the bus at 5 in the morning. He could roll out of bed at 4:30, eat breakfast, brush his teeth, decide not to bother combing his hair since it would be under a swim cap, throw on some shoes, and head over to the school. The school I went to for high school was almost 40 minutes away. Thankfully we didn't ever really have to do early morning things, but I played sports every season, so that made for some extra late nights for sure.
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