monster sea creature?

I stopped by the Milwaukee Ave. location of Renee Gourmet today to satisfy another smoked "Kapitan" (sable fish/black cod) fix. I again encountered this smoked nightmarish sea creature, but this time I had a camera.

It's scaly, reptile-like, spiny, with a flat head and a gaping, huge mouth for something that size (save for baby alligators).

I haven't yet worked up the courage to try it; for the first time, I may have encountered something I'm fearful to eat.

Does anyone know what this is?



BTW: The Milwaukee Ave. location is easy to miss, unless you're on the look-out for Cyrillic lettering. It's on the east side of the street, just south of SuperDawg.



Renee Gourmet
773-775-7700
6427 N. Milwaukee, Chicago
Thurs.-Sun.: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.[/url]

Looks like dried/cured sturgeon.

The hand-lettered red sign over the fish transliterates, in relevant part, as "Osetrina." That sounds like Russian sturgeonto me.

Thanks kindly Jay K and JiLS. I love smoked sturgeon (oh: and the roe!), but I've never seen it in its, ah, natural form, let alone dried and cured. Any ideas on serving/eating?

My fright probably has to do with its resemblance to the alligator gar that terrified me as a kid in Texas/Louisiana/The South.

Cheers,
Wade