By Angie Herrington
Staff Writer
This reunion of two long-lost brothers had none of the typical tears or hugs you might expect after 15 years apart.
But it did create a mini-media frenzy Thursday at the Tennessee Aquarium.
Four TV cameramen, a handful of reporters and about a dozen aquarium workers with their camera phones ready crowded around a 13,000-gallon tank to witness the event.
Horace and Boris, two rare beluga sturgeons, were about to be reunited.
“Do they know they’re brothers? I don’t know for sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some level of recognition,” said Thom Demas, curator of fishes.
The belugas’ journey to the Tennessee Aquarium has been a long one.
Horace and Boris came to the United States from Russia as hatchlings in 1976. They shared the same tank at the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco until 1991, when Horace moved to Chattanooga.
Now —; 15 years later —; they are together again.
Mr. Demas said Horace and Boris are the only two beluga sturgeon on exhibit in the country. The endangered species has been fished to near extinction because of the top-quality caviar it produces, he said.
Boris flew from California to Atlanta in the cargo hold of a passenger plane.
Six aquarium workers on Thursday wrapped Boris up like a burrito in a tan canvas and dropped him into the Volga River exhibit tank.
He looked a little disoriented as he swam around his new surroundings and settled on the tank’s floor.
“It’s a stressful thing to move them,” Mr. Demas said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he stayed on the bottom all day.”
The two fish are the same age, but there is no mistaking that Horace is the big brother.
His 126-pound frame overshadows Boris’ 86 pounds.
Barry Smith, a fish biologist, said the differences in weight are because Boris was fed a lower-fat diet in California.
Horace, he said, is fed a mixture of shrimp, herring, squid, clams and smelt three times a week.
Aquarium officials said beluga sturgeon can live to be 100 years old.
“The visitors here will be able to enjoy them for a long time,” Mr. Demas said.
E-mail Angie Herrington at aherrington@timesfreepress.com
Staff Writer
This reunion of two long-lost brothers had none of the typical tears or hugs you might expect after 15 years apart.
But it did create a mini-media frenzy Thursday at the Tennessee Aquarium.
Four TV cameramen, a handful of reporters and about a dozen aquarium workers with their camera phones ready crowded around a 13,000-gallon tank to witness the event.
Horace and Boris, two rare beluga sturgeons, were about to be reunited.
“Do they know they’re brothers? I don’t know for sure, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some level of recognition,” said Thom Demas, curator of fishes.
The belugas’ journey to the Tennessee Aquarium has been a long one.
Horace and Boris came to the United States from Russia as hatchlings in 1976. They shared the same tank at the Steinhart Aquarium in San Francisco until 1991, when Horace moved to Chattanooga.
Now —; 15 years later —; they are together again.
Mr. Demas said Horace and Boris are the only two beluga sturgeon on exhibit in the country. The endangered species has been fished to near extinction because of the top-quality caviar it produces, he said.
Boris flew from California to Atlanta in the cargo hold of a passenger plane.
Six aquarium workers on Thursday wrapped Boris up like a burrito in a tan canvas and dropped him into the Volga River exhibit tank.
He looked a little disoriented as he swam around his new surroundings and settled on the tank’s floor.
“It’s a stressful thing to move them,” Mr. Demas said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he stayed on the bottom all day.”
The two fish are the same age, but there is no mistaking that Horace is the big brother.
His 126-pound frame overshadows Boris’ 86 pounds.
Barry Smith, a fish biologist, said the differences in weight are because Boris was fed a lower-fat diet in California.
Horace, he said, is fed a mixture of shrimp, herring, squid, clams and smelt three times a week.
Aquarium officials said beluga sturgeon can live to be 100 years old.
“The visitors here will be able to enjoy them for a long time,” Mr. Demas said.
E-mail Angie Herrington at aherrington@timesfreepress.com
