Scientists are still working to answer that question about the sturgeon, discovered in September.
The white sturgeon is the largest freshwater fish in North America, but its range doesn’t include Clear Lake.
So when the big fish was found dead, washed up on a beach in Buckingham, in mid-September, it kicked off an investigation involving tribal and government scientists.
Sarah Ryan, environmental director for the Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians, said her agency got tissue samples of the sturgeon which they sent off for analysis of microcystins and mercury.
She said Robinson Rancheria is reviewing the sturgeon’s ear bones to determine whether it started in Clear Lake or not, which is possible because there is geologic imprinting on their ear bones.
Ryan said there also is a fin study being done by wildlife scientists to determine whether the fish was in salt water or not.
“We also got reports of other sturgeon sightings but never got enough details to follow up,” Ryan said.
On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors received an update from the Lake County Fish and Wildlife Advisory Committee on a fish die-off that occurred at the start of September, first reported about a week before the sturgeon was found
https://lakeconews.com/news/83001-inves ... clear-lake
...Scared the s**t outta me but then I realized I had been flipping all over a live sturgeon laying up in some shallow water until it got tired of me thumping it with a 1 oz. jig and split the scene. People move fish all over this state. 18 years ago I could catch 1 smallmouth a year here at Casitas but that hasn't happened for me in the last 10 years....Gotta go to Cachuma for my smallmouth fix now. 
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