Associated Press

SEATTLE - A Seattle man who came across a giant dead fish as he waterskied on Lake Washington said he first thought it might be a shark.

Keith Magnuson said he now thinks the roughly 8-foot-long creature is a sturgeon.

The Seattle Times reported Magnuson found the fish Saturday.

The University of Washington School of Fisheries tied the fish to a post and the Washington state Fish and Wildlife Department plans to send a biologist to look at it.

Fish and Wildlife biologist Annette Hoffman in the north Seattle suburb of Mill Creek said a sturgeon "is not a common fish to find in the lake."

She said one found in 1987 was 11 feet long and weighed 640 pounds.

Hoffman said the deep water bottom-feeders commonly migrate up and down the Columbia River.