Jaylon Rippy 5, dead, Colleen Harvey, 42, 9-year-old child injured when sturgeon jumps into boat on the Suwannee River in Lake City, Florida

A 5-year-old Florida girl riding in a boat has died after a sturgeon leaped from the Suwannee River and struck her.Wildlife officials said Jaylon Rippy died after being struck Thursday night. Her mother and 9-year-old brother were also injured and taken to a Gainesville hospital. Their condition was not known.Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said this is the first fatality recorded from a sturgeon strike on the Suwannee River. Four people have been injured by jumping sturgeon this year.The fish are known for leaping more than 7 feet (2.13 meters) above the water. They can grow up to 8 feet (2.4 meters) long and weigh up to 200 pounds (90 kilograms) and can cause serious injuries.

In late May, a 15-year-old girl was knocked unconscious by a leaping sturgeon in Florida, Parker said. A leaping sturgeon struck and killed a 5-year-old girl boating with her family on a river in Florida, and a similar incident injured two adults in a different part of the state, wildlife officials said Saturday. It is unusual for sturgeons to strike boaters in Florida on consecutive days, said Fish and Wildlife Commission spokeswoman Karen Parker. On Friday, two adults traveling in a boat on the Santa Fe River between the Suwannee River and a Branford area campground were also struck by a leaping sturgeon, Fish and Wildlife Commission officials said in a statement. The family members, who were from nearby Trenton, were airlifted to a hospital in Gainesville but the girl did not survive.

A 5-year-old girl has died after a sturgeon leaped into her boat along the Suwannee River and struck her. Wildlife officials say Colleen Harvey, 42, and her husband Charles, 41, were struck while boating along the Santa Fe River. Four people have been injured by jumping sturgeon this year, including two boaters who were taken to the hospital Friday. Wildlife officials say Jayln Rippy died after being struck Thursday night. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission say this is the first fatality recorded from a sturgeon strike on the Suwannee River.

A 5-year-old Florida girl riding in a boat has died after a sturgeon leaped from the Suwannee River and struck her. Wildlife officials said Jaylon Rippy died after being struck Thursday night. Her mother and 9-year-old brother were also injured and taken to a Gainesville hospital. Their condition was not known.