Sturgeon fish with a long nose. See what “Sturgeon fish” is in other dictionaries. Seasonal sturgeon migrations

Sturgeon is a fish that belongs to the class ray-finned fish, subclass cartilaginous ganoids, order sturgeon, suborder sturgeon, family sturgeon, subfamily sturgeon, genus sturgeon (lat. Acipenser).

International scientific name: Acipenser, Linnaeus, 1758 .

Sturgeon fry feed primarily on zooplankton (daphnia, cyclops and bosmina), but are capable of eating very small crustaceans and worms. Juveniles eat insect larvae, small shrimp and crustaceans. In the stomachs of the fry, many inedible particles are often found, probably absorbed from the muddy deposits.

During the breeding season and after spawning, the sturgeon practically stops eating or switches to a plant diet, but within a month the fish’s appetite is restored, and they go back to fattening.

Classification of sturgeons.

According to the fishbase.org database, there are 17 species of sturgeon (data from 10/2016):

1. Acipenser baerii – Siberian sturgeon;
2. Acipenser brevirostrum – Blunt sturgeon;
3. Acipenser dabryanus – Korean sturgeon;
4. Acipenser fulvescens – Lake sturgeon;
5. Acipenser gueldenstaedtii – Russian sturgeon;
6. Acipenser medirostris – Green sturgeon (Pacific);
7. Acipenser mikadoi – Sakhalin sturgeon;
8. Acipenser naccarii – Adriatic sturgeon;
9. Acipenser nudiventris – Thorn;
10. Acipenser oxyrinchus – American Atlantic sturgeon;
11. Acipenser persicus – Persian sturgeon;
12. Acipenser ruthenus – Sterlet;
13. Acipenser schrenckii – Amur sturgeon;
14. Acipenser sinensis – Chinese sturgeon;
15. Acipenser stellatus – Stellate sturgeon;
16. Acipenser sturio – Atlantic sturgeon;
17. Acipenser transmontanus – White sturgeon.

Fossil species of sturgeon:

1. Acipenser albertensis † - Campanian stage of the Upper Cretaceous - early Paleocene 83.5-61.7 million years ago
2. Acipenser eruciferus † - Campanian - Maastrichtian stages of the Upper Cretaceous 83.5-65.5 million years ago
3. Acipenser molassicus†
4. Acipenser ornatus†
5. Acipenser toliapicus † - Lutetian stage of the Eocene 48.6-40.4 million years ago, Europe and northern Asia
6. Acipenser tuberculosus†

Types of sturgeon, photos and names.

The sturgeon genus includes 17 species of fish, most of which are listed in the Red Book with the status of critically endangered. Below is a description of some types.

• Siberian sturgeon(lat.Acipenser baerii) - a large fish up to 2 meters long. Sturgeon weighs up to 210 kg. Within the species, there are 2 varieties: sharp-snouted and blunt-snouted (regular) individuals. The general population of Siberian sturgeon is divided into freshwater and semi-anadromous forms, which inhabit the Siberian rivers from the Ob to the Kolyma, and also live in Lake Baikal and in eastern Kazakhstan in Lake Zaisan. Initially, the Siberian sturgeon species was divided into 4 subspecies:
  • Yakut sturgeon sturgeon (lat. Acipenser baerii chatys, Drjagin, 1948), called khatys, which lives in Khatanga, Lena, Yana and Indigirka,
  • Baikal sturgeon (lat. Acipenser baerii baicalensis, Nikolskii, 1896), inhabiting Lake Baikal and having a similar morphology to the North American sturgeon,
  • East Siberian (long-snouted) sturgeon (lat. Acipenser baerii stenorrhynchus, Nikolskii, 1896);
  • West Siberian sturgeon (lat. Acipenser baerii baerii, Brandt, 1869).

At the end of the 20th century, scientists proved that there is no difference between these subspecies significant differences, and separation became unacceptable. The diet of the Siberian sturgeon includes amphipods, insect larvae (mainly caddis flies and mosquitoes), as well as mollusks and various types of small fish, especially juvenile Baikal lobster. The Siberian sturgeon interbreeds freely with the Siberian sterlet, and their offspring are called koster. The Siberian sturgeon differs from the sterlet in the smaller number of lateral bugs (up to 50). The difference from the Russian sturgeon is that the Siberian species has fan-shaped gill rakers and a sharper snout in some individuals.

Taken from the site: www.rybarskyrozcestnik.cz

• White sturgeon(lat. Acipenser transmontanus) - Very close-up view sturgeon, second in size only to beluga and kaluga, and also the largest North American fish. Conservation status: Least Concern. The unofficial name of the fish is California white sturgeon. The fish has a fairly slender body, and the length of the largest sturgeon was 6.1 m with a mass of 816 kg, although the average weight of a sturgeon usually does not exceed 10-20 kg. The dorsal row contains from 11 to 14 scutes, the lateral rows consist of 38-48, the ventral scutes range from 9 to 12. The back and lateral surfaces are painted in grayish, light olive or grayish-brown shades, the belly and underside of the head are white. The sturgeon feeds on numerous mollusks, various crustaceans, lampreys and fish, including smelt. White sturgeon is an anadromous fish that lives in the Pacific waters off the western coast of North America from the Aleutian Islands, located in the subarctic zone, to the state of California. Spawning grounds are located in brackish river mouths; some individuals migrate far up into fresh waters. Regular migrations into rivers for these fish are not necessarily associated with spawning. The largest populations of California sturgeon are found off the coast and in the inland waters of Washington and Oregon states, southwest Alaska, California's San Francisco Bay, and the deltas of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. Dams built on the Columbia and Snake rivers isolated part of the population in the river, and over time the fish acquired a freshwater form.

• Russian sturgeon(lat. Acipenser gueldenstaedtii) - one of the very first objects of artificial breeding, which has a high value throughout the world for the exceptional gastronomic qualities of meat and caviar. Conservation status: critically endangered. It has a walk-through and residential form. The Russian sturgeon differs from other sturgeons by its blunt, short snout and antennae, which grow not near the mouth, but closer to the end of the snout. The maximum length of an adult Russian sturgeon is 2.36 m with a weight of 115 kg, but usually the weight of the sturgeon does not exceed 12-24 kg. The average length is 1.45 m. The Russian sturgeon has a grayish-brown back, gray sides with a yellow tint and a whitish belly. The dorsal row usually contains from 9 to 18 bugs, the lateral rows from 30 to 50, and the ventral rows no more than 7-12. Depending on the habitat, the diet of representatives of the species consists of amphipods (amphipods), mysids and worms. The fish diet includes sprat, herring, mullet and shemaya. Under natural conditions, Russian sturgeon produces hybrid offspring with beluga, sterlet, stellate sturgeon and thorn. Russian sturgeon is found in almost all major waterways Russia. The main habitat of sturgeon is the basins of the Caspian, Black and Azov seas. Russian sturgeon goes to spawn in the Volga, Terek, Don, Kuban, Samur, Dnieper, Danube, Rioni, Mzymta, Psou and other rivers.

• Amur sturgeon, aka Schrenk's sturgeon(lat.Acipenser schrenckii, Acipenser multiscutatus) forms freshwater (residential) and semi-anadromous forms, which are considered close relatives of the Siberian sturgeon. But, unlike the Siberian sturgeon, the gill rakers of the Amur species are not fan-shaped, but smooth and have one apex. Conservation status: critically endangered. The Amur sturgeon reaches 3 meters in length with a body weight of about 190 kg, but the average weight of a sturgeon usually does not exceed 56-80 kg. Representatives of the species have a pointed, elongated snout, which can be up to half the length of the head. The dorsal rows of the sturgeon contain from 11 to 17 bugs, the lateral rows from 32 to 47, the abdominal rows from 7 to 14. Amur sturgeons eat caddis and mayfly larvae, various crustaceans, lamprey larvae and small fish. The sturgeon lives in the Amur River basin, from the lower reaches and above, to Shilka and Argun; during the breeding season, schools go up the river to the Nikolaevsk-on-Amur region.

• Atlantic sturgeon(lat. Acipenser sturios) is a very large representative of the genus, the maximum size of which can reach 6 meters. The maximum recorded weight of the fish is 400 kg. The bugs of the Atlantic sturgeon are much larger than those of other sturgeons, and on the tail there are 3 pairs of large fused scutes. On the back of the sturgeon, oblique rows of small diamond-shaped plaques and from 9 to 16 large light bugs are clearly visible. The lateral rows contain from 24 to 40 scutes, on the belly from 8 to 14. The back of the fish is grayish-olive in color, the sides are much lighter, the belly is white. Sturgeon food includes small fish (anchovies and sand lance), as well as worms, crustaceans and mollusks. Initially, the Atlantic sturgeon was found off the coast of Europe in the Baltic, North, Mediterranean and Black Seas, as well as off the North American coast from Hudson Bay to South Carolina. Schools of fish went to spawn in the rivers Svir, Volkhov, Elbe, Oder, and Danube. Despite its impressive historical range, the Atlantic sturgeon is critically endangered and has been virtually extirpated in most areas. Currently, the Atlantic sturgeon is found only in the Black Sea and the Bay of Biscay, where no more than 300 individuals live. According to foreign sources, a small number of Atlantic sturgeon are found only in the Garonne River in France.

Taken from: itsnature.org

• Lake sturgeon(lat. Acipenser fulvescens) is a large representative of the genus, biologically close to the blunt-nosed sturgeon. The maximum recorded length of adult fish is 2.74 m with a body weight of 125 kg. The body is colored black with gray or greenish-brown, the belly is white or yellowish. Basically, lake sturgeon feed on all kinds of bottom organisms; fish is consumed to a lesser extent. The lake sturgeon is a North American and Canadian resident that lives in the Great Lakes system, Lake Winnipeg, and the Mississippi, Saskatchewan and St. Lawrence river basins. Conservation status: Least Concern.

• Sakhalin sturgeon(lat. Acipenser mikadoi) is the rarest and rather poorly studied species, biologically identical to the green (Pacific) sturgeon. The average length of adult specimens reaches 1.5-1.7 m with a weight of 35-45 kg, the largest individuals grow up to 2 m in length and weigh about 60 kg. Adults have a large, blunt snout. The color of the Sakhalin sturgeon is greenish-olive, there are from 8 to 10 bugs on the back, from 27 to 31 on the sides, from 6 to 8 on the belly. The food of the Sakhalin sturgeon consists of various inhabitants of the muddy bottom: snails and other mollusks, insect larvae, small shrimp, crustaceans, and small fish. The species' range covers the cold waters of the Sea of ​​Japan, the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and the Strait of Tatar; the fish goes to the Tumnin River in the Khabarovsk Territory to spawn.

Taken from the site: www.ichthyo.ru

• Persian sturgeon, aka South Caspian or Kura sturgeon(lat. Acipenser persicus) - passage view, close relative Russian sturgeon. It is on the verge of extinction. The maximum size of a sturgeon is 2.42 m and weighs 70 kg. Representatives of the species have a large, long, slightly curved snout and a gray-blue back, blue sides with a metallic tint. The Persian sturgeon also differs from other species in having fewer bugs in each row. The diet of the South Caspian sturgeon consists mainly of benthos and small fish. The natural habitat of the fish is the middle and southern regions of the Caspian Sea; a small proportion of the population inhabits the northern regions of the Caspian Sea and is found along the Black Sea coast. The main spawning grounds are located in the Volga, Ural, Kura, Inguri and Rioni rivers.

• Sterlet (lat. Acipenser ruthenus) - a medium-sized representative of the sturgeon genus, differs from other sturgeons by early puberty: males are ready for reproduction at the age of 4-5 years, females at 7-8 years. Another difference between the sterlet and other sturgeons is its fringed antennae and a large number of lateral bugs: usually more than 50. Sterlet is a freshwater fish, but there are no big number semi-through forms. The maximum length of a sterlet reaches 1.25 m, and its weight does not exceed 16 kg. The average size is 40-60 cm. Sterlet can be sharp-snouted or blunt-snouted, and its color varies from brown with gray to brown, its belly is white with yellowish tint. Most of the sterlet's diet consists of insect larvae, leeches and other benthic organisms; fish is eaten to a lesser extent. A valuable hybrid form of sterlet and beluga - bester, is a popular object economic cultivation. The natural habitat of the sterlet is in the rivers of the Caspian, Black, Azov and Baltic seas, found in rivers such as the Dnieper, Don, Yenisei, Ob, Irtysh, Volga with its tributaries, Kuban, Sura, Ural, upper and middle Kama, formerly also found in Lakes Ladoga and Onega. Some of the population was resettled in the Neman, Western Dvina, Pechora, Onega, Amur, Mezen, Oka and a number of artificial reservoirs, although the fish have not taken root everywhere. Conservation status: vulnerable species.

• Stellate sturgeon(lat. Acipenser stellatus) is an anadromous species of sturgeon, closely related to sterlet and sturgeon. Sevruga is a large fish, reaching a length of 2.2 m and weighing about 80 kg. The stellate sturgeon has an elongated, narrow, slightly flattened snout, accounting for up to 65% of the length of the head. The rows of dorsal bugs contain from 11 to 14 elements, in the lateral rows there are from 30 to 36, on the belly from 10 to 11. The surface of the back is black-brown in color, the sides are much lighter, the belly is usually white. The diet of the stellate sturgeon consists of crustaceans and mysids, various worms, as well as small species of fish. Stellate sturgeon lives in the basins of the Caspian, Azov and Black seas; sometimes fish are found in the Adriatic and Aegean seas. During the breeding season, the sturgeon goes to the Volga, Ural, Kura, Kuban, Don, Dnieper, Southern Bug, Inguri and Kodori.

This family includes through, semi through and freshwater fish, inhabiting the waters of Europe, Northern Asia and North America.

Sturgeons are characterized by an elongated fusiform body, on which there are five rows of bony scutes: one dorsal, two lateral and two ventral. Small bone grains and plates are scattered between the rows of beetles. The snout is elongated, conical or spatulate. The lower mouth, in the form of a transverse slit, or semilunar, extends in the shape of a tube, bordered by fleshy lips, toothless; Only the fry develop weak teeth, which subsequently disappear. On the underside of the snout, in front of the mouth, there are four antennae in a transverse row. The anterior (marginal) ray of the pectoral fin is well developed and transformed into a spine. The age of the sturgeon is determined from the transverse cuts of this ray. The dorsal fin is carried far back. The swim bladder is usually well developed (only in some sturgeons is it rudimentary, for example, in pseudoshovelfish).

The internal skeleton is cartilaginous, the notochord is preserved throughout life, there are no vertebrae. Sturgeon are fish with a long life cycle. Beluga lives up to 100 years or more, Russian sturgeon - up to 50, stellate sturgeon - up to 30 years. Age limit Sterlet, the least durable sturgeon species, reaches 20–22 years.

Sturgeons (with the exception of sterlet and shovelnose) become sexually mature late. U different types and even for the same species in different basins, the age of maturation varies greatly, but on average, males of anadromous sturgeon species reach sexual maturity no earlier than 10–12 years, females no earlier than 12–15 years. The Azov sturgeon are the most precocious, entering the Don and Kuban for breeding.

The same fish does not reproduce every year and several times during its life. A large number of age groups of spawners participate in spawning. All sturgeon lay eggs in rivers, in areas with pebble or pebble-sand soil, in fast currents, in conditions of good oxygen supply. Spawning does not occur in the marine environment or in stagnant freshwater bodies. Migratory species, as a rule, do not feed during the spawning period. There are two types of spawning grounds: in areas of the rocky floodplain flooded by spring floods and in channel ridges located at considerable depths. Spawning occurs in spring and summer, usually at a water temperature of at least 15–20 °C. The eggs are sticky and after fertilization they are firmly attached to stones and pebbles. The incubation period is short, only a few days (from two to ten). Sturgeon larvae hatching from eggs have a fairly large yolk sac and at first live off its nutrients. As the yolk sac dissolves, they switch to external (exogenous) nutrition. Sturgeon larvae first feed on planktonic crustaceans (daphnia, cyclops), then the fry begin to eat mysids, gammarids, oligochaetes and chironomid larvae.

The juveniles of anadromous sturgeon species (beluga, stellate sturgeon, thorn, Russian sturgeon, Atlantic sturgeon, etc.) after hatching in the same summer, migrate to the pre-estuarine spaces. Only in some of them, for example, in the Russian sturgeon and thorn, some of the juveniles can stay in the river for up to a year or more. Adults of anadromous sturgeon also go to sea after spawning.

The main food of most sturgeon species is bottom and benthic invertebrates: crustaceans, worms, mollusks, chironomid larvae. By the nature of their diet, they are typical benthophages. Only the largest sturgeon - beluga and kaluga - are predators. The most important feeding areas for sturgeon, where their main stocks are concentrated, are the north of the Caspian Sea, the Sea of ​​Azov, and the northwestern part of the Black Sea. Semi-anadromous species of sturgeon (Siberian sturgeon, Amur sturgeon, Kaluga) feed in deltaic and pre-estuarine spaces large rivers(Ob, Yenisei, Lena, Amur), and in the spring they climb up them for spawning.

Beluga (Huso huso) - above and Amu Darya shovelnose (Pseudoscaphirhynchus kaufmanni) - below"

Sturgeon are fast-growing fish that effectively use the food resources of water bodies. It is interesting to note that species living in the same basin diverge quite widely in their nutritional spectrum and seem to complement each other. If we take, for example, the Caspian basin, then in the “bouquet” of sturgeon species living here, beluga is a typical predator, Russian sturgeon mainly feeds on mollusks, sturgeon prefers worms and crustaceans, and freshwater sterlet eats small bottom invertebrates of the river (mainly chironomid larvae) . In this way, maximum use of the reservoir's food supply is achieved.

Anadromous sturgeon species are characterized by complex intraspecific differentiation and the presence of so-called “winter” and “spring” races. This phenomenon was first described for. some species of fish (sturgeon, salmon) by the outstanding Russian ichthyologist, academician L.S. Berg, and its biological meaning was revealed. Winter forms of sturgeon enter rivers at the end of summer and autumn with immature reproductive products, climb them quite high, overwinter in rivers in pits and spawn in the spring of the following year. Spring crops go to the rivers in early spring with gonads ready for spawning, climb them low and reproduce “on the fly” in late spring - early summer of the same year. The degree of complexity of such differentiation depends primarily on the length and water content of the river: in large rivers (Volga, Ural) both forms are well represented; in relatively small ones, such as Kura, spring forms predominate, which are usually smaller in size than winter ones.

The biological significance of winter and spring races in fish (including sturgeon) apparently lies in ensuring the fullest use of the spawning grounds available in the river basin, including those located in its upper sections, which fish cannot reach in one season.

Subsequently, the famous domestic ichthyologist, Professor N.L. Gerbilsky, discovered even smaller biological groups in some species of sturgeon (Russian sturgeon, stellate sturgeon, beluga) within the winter and spring races, also differing in the time of movement and spawning, the state of the gonads during the period entry into rivers, length of migration route, etc.

The question of the hereditary fixation of seasonal races and biological groups in sturgeons remains open to this day. Some researchers deny the possibility of crossing in nature individuals of different intraspecific forms in sturgeons and consider them as genetically determined; others, on the contrary, do not recognize their strict genetic fixation and believe that when known conditions transition and exchange of individuals between these groups is possible.

Different species of sturgeon in nature quite easily interbreed with each other, forming hybrid forms. Hybrids between thorn and stellate sturgeon, sterlet and Russian sturgeon, sterlet and stellate sturgeon, Kaluga and Amur sturgeon, Siberian sturgeon and sterlet and other variants are known and described. Recently, due to a sharp reduction in spawning areas in rivers caused by hydraulic construction and significant concentrations of producers of different species on them, the number of hybrid forms of sturgeon has been increasing.

In the sturgeon family, there is a subfamily of sturgeons (Acipenserinae) with the genera: belugas (Huso) and sturgeons (Acipenser) and a subfamily of shovelnose (Scaphirhynchinae) with the genera: American shovelnose (Scaphirhynchus) and Central Asian pseudoshovel (Pseudoscaphirhynchus).

Shovelnoses (subfamily Scaphirhynchinae) They differ well from the sturgeon proper (subfamily Acipenserinae) by a very wide, flattened snout with sharp edges, as well as the absence or weak development of the squirter.

The largest sturgeon fish are beluga and kaluga (genus Huso), the distinctive features of which are a large mouth in the form of a semilunar slit and gill membranes fused together, forming a free fold.

They differ from each other in that in the dorsal row of bugs the first one (from the head) is the largest in the kaluga, and the smallest in the beluga.

Kaluga (Huso dauricus) inhabits the Amur basin from the estuary to its upper reaches. Found in Ussuri, Sungari, Shilka, Arguni, Zeya, Onon. It does not go out to sea beyond the estuary. There are two forms of kaluga: estuary, semi-anadromous, fast-growing, entering the Amur to spawn, and smaller, riverine, which does not make large movements along the river and forms several local herds.

One of the largest freshwater fish, reaching a length of 3.7 m and a weight of 380 kg; In the past, specimens over 5m in length have been caught. The usual fishing weight of kaluga is 50–100 kg. The maximum recorded age for this fish is 55 years.

Kaluga becomes sexually mature very late: males are at the age of 17–18 years, females – at 18–22 years. The length of the fish is about 220cm. Kaluga breeds in the summer, in June – July, in deep places with fast currents and pebbly soil.

Its spawning grounds are scattered from Shilka to Tyr and below. The number of eggs laid is very large - from 665 thousand to 4.1 million. The eggs are large, with a diameter of about 4 mm.

Kaluga is a typical predator. In the Amur estuary, during the run of Far Eastern salmon, it feeds on chum salmon and pink salmon; Due to the decline in salmon numbers, cases of cannibalism have now become more frequent. The food of the residential river form of Kaluga consists mainly of small bottom fish: minnows, killer whales.

Thanks to the long-term ban on sturgeon fishing in the Soviet part of the Amur basin, kaluga stocks are now gradually being restored and in 1976. Strictly limited fishing has begun in the estuary.

Beluga (Huso huso) distributed in the basins of the Caspian, Black and Azov seas; occasionally found in the Adriatic Sea, from where it enters the Po River. The Black Sea and Azov beluga are often divided into subspecies (Huso huso ponticus and Huso huso maeoticus). Unlike kaluga, beluga leads a migratory lifestyle.

Beluga is one of the largest fish found in the fresh waters of the globe. In the last century and the beginning of this century, giant belugas were repeatedly caught - 4-5 m long, weighing 1 ton or more, age 65-70 years.

In 1922 A beluga weighing 1230 kg was caught near Astrakhan. During archaeological excavations of medieval settlements located on the Volga, bone remains of beluga sturgeons exceeding 6 m were found. The approximate mass of such fish apparently reached 1.5 tons. It is not surprising that the fight with such giants caught in the gear in the past often ended tragically for catchers.

Currently, the average harvest weight of beluga entering the Volga is 70 kg for males and 125 kg for females; in the Urals, the catches are dominated by males weighing 40–60 kg and females weighing 60–100 kg.

To breed, the beluga climbed very high in the rivers, higher than other sturgeon species. Along the Volga it reached Kalinin, and was found in many of its tributaries: the Kama, Vyatka, Oka, Samara, Sura, etc. The main spawning grounds were located in the area from Kamenniy Yar to the mouth of the Kama. A lot of beluga was caught in the Urals, where it was found as far as Orenburg. Of the rivers on the western coast of the Caspian Sea, beluga was very numerous in the Kura, along which at the end of the 19th century. went up to Tbilisi. The Azov beluga entered the Don in large quantities, and was caught here almost along its entire length. The main spawning rivers of the Black Sea beluga were the Danube, Dnieper and Dniester. Along the Dnieper it rose early to Kyiv and entered its tributaries Styr, Pripyat, Sozh, Desna.

The course of the beluga into the rivers is quite extended. Like other migratory sturgeon species, it has spring and winter forms. The peak of the spring form usually occurs at the end of March - April; The winter season comes in September–November and winters in the river in pits. Both forms reproduce in late spring and summer, from May to July. In the Volga beluga the winter form predominates, in the Kura, on the contrary, the spring form, and in the Urals both are equally represented.

Beluga, like kaluga, is a late-maturing fish. The majority of females going to spawn in the Volga reach 17–26 years of age, males – 14–23 years. The central part of the spawning population of the Ural beluga consists of females aged 21–28 years and males aged 15–19 years. Mature males of the Azov beluga are found at the age of 12–14 years, females – 16–18 years.

Beluga breeds in river beds, usually on rocky ground. Its fertility is very high, depending on the size of the females, it ranges from 224 thousand to 7.7 million eggs; The average fertility of the running Volga beluga is over 800 thousand eggs.

The regulation of the flow of most southern rivers caused severe damage to the natural reproduction of the beluga, as a result of which almost all of its spawning grounds were cut off. The population of this species is now entirely maintained through artificial breeding in fish hatcheries. From 1954 to 1977 About 200 million of its young were released into the Caspian Sea alone.

The young beluga does not stay in the river and migrates to the sea in the same summer. Beluga begins to eat fish very early. The basis of its diet consists of common species: gobies, herring, sprat, anchovy, semi-anadromous carp (roach, ram). Even seal whites were found in the stomachs of the Caspian beluga. Recently, cases of beluga eating other sturgeon have become more frequent, which is apparently due to a decrease in the number of its main food items, primarily herring, gobies and roach. In 1952 On the Volga, under the leadership of Professor N.I. Nikolyukin, an intergeneric hybrid of beluga and sterlet, called bester, was bred under artificial conditions. This hybrid turned out to be prolific, is characterized by rapid growth and easily matures in ponds, which opens up prospects for its use as an object of commercial sturgeon breeding, as well as for breeding new pond forms of sturgeon fish on its basis.

The genus sturgeon (Acipenser) is the richest in species among sturgeons. There are only 17 of them, of which the range of nine species also covers water bodies Soviet Union. All sturgeons have a small mouth, in the form of a transverse slit, and the gill membranes are attached to the intergill space.

According to the number of chromosomes, sturgeons fall into two groups: 120-chromosomal and 240-chromosomal species. The first group includes thorn, sterlet, stellate sturgeon, and Atlantic sturgeon; to the second - Russian, Siberian, Amur, Adriatic sturgeon. The karyotypes of other species, mainly found outside the USSR, have not yet been studied.

Quite a rare and small species in this genus - thorn (Acipenser nudiventris). It is easily distinguished from other sturgeons by its unbroken lower lip. This is a large migratory fish inhabiting the basins of the Caspian, Aral, Black and Azov seas. It is extremely rare in the Black and especially Azov Seas. The spike can reach a length of more than 2 m and a weight of 50 kg. The age limit is 36 years.

In the Caspian basin, the main river visited by the ship is currently the Ural; Previously, a lot of it entered the Kura and Sefidrud rivers. In the Volga, thorn has always been rare. It is interesting to note that Volga fishermen call all sturgeon hybrids thorns. For example, the sturgeon thorn is a hybrid between the thorn and sevruga, the sturgeon thorn is a cross between sterlet and Russian sturgeon.

In the Aral Sea, the thorn is represented mainly by the winter form, the entry of which into the Amu Darya and Syr Darya begins in April and continues until autumn (September–October). The length of the running spike in the Amu Darya reaches 143–175 cm and the weight is 19–31 kg. It lies in the river for the winter and spawns only the following spring, from March to May. The thorn breeds at water temperatures above 10°C in sections of the river with rocky rocks reaching the surface of the bottom, less often on hard clay soil. The development of eggs at a water temperature of 19.5°C lasts 5 days. The main spawning grounds in the Amu Darya were located between Chardzhou and Turtkul, in the Syrdarya - in the Chinaz region. Spawned fish and fry migrate to the sea that same summer, but some of the juveniles, apparently, can stay in the river for more than a year. In the last 10–15 years, as a result of irrigation hydro-construction on the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, the Aral thorn has almost no spawning grounds left and it has become very popular here. rare fish.

In the Urals, the thorn, on the contrary, is represented only by the spring form, which goes into the river during April. The average length of a running Ural spike is 130–155 cm and weight is 12–19 kg. In recent years, about 3.5–5 thousand manufacturers have been coming to the Urals. Spawned individuals appear in the river delta in mid-May. Juvenile Ural thornfish can stay in the river for up to 2–5 years, where a large number of them die from winter death or predators. This ecological feature of the thorn apparently explains its paucity in most water bodies.

The thorn first matures at the age of 12–14 years; males are 1–2 years earlier than females. Its fertility in the Aral Sea basin is 52–575 thousand eggs, of the Caspian thorn (Kura) – 280–1290 thousand eggs. Mature eggs have a diameter of about 3 mm. The main food of the thorn in the Aral and Caspian Sea is fish (gobies, silversides), as well as mollusks.

The smallest species in the genus Acipenser is sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus). Its lower lip, unlike the spine, is interrupted in the middle, and it differs from other sturgeons in the large number of lateral bugs (usually more than 50 of them) and fringed antennae.

Sterlet is very widespread, found in the rivers of the Black, Azov, Caspian and Baltic seas. At the end of the 18th – beginning of the 19th centuries. (possibly earlier) the sterlet penetrated from the Kama basin to the Northern Dvina through a system of canals. Found in the past in both Onega and Ladoga lakes. It is found in the large rivers of Siberia - the Ob, Irtysh and Yenisei, where it is represented by an independent subspecies - the Siberian sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus marsiglii). Further to the east (Pyasipa, Khatanga, Lena, Kolyma) it is absent. The main sterlet rivers are the Volga with its tributaries, the Don, the Ob and the Irtysh. Sterlet was transplanted into many reservoirs: Pechora, Western Dvina, Mezen, Neman, Amur, but it did not take root everywhere.

Sterlet is a typically freshwater fish, but in the Volga basin, a large semi-anadromous form is also found in small numbers (the average length of females is 74 cm and weight is 2.8 kg), which feeds on the rich pastures of the Northern Caspian Sea, and rises low along the river to spawn. This form of sterlet was even isolated as an independent species (Acipeiiser primigenius). The existence of a large, semi-anadromous, fast-growing sterlet in the Volga (and, possibly, in our other southern rivers) is also confirmed by archaeological materials.

The usual commercial length of sterlet is 40–60 cm, weight 500–2000 g. As an exception, it reaches a length of 120 cm and a weight of 16 kg. Such a specimen was caught in 1849. on the Volga 100 km below Saratov. The sterlet is very variable in the shape of its snout; many researchers distinguish it into two forms: blunt-snouted and sharp-snouted. The blunt-snouted sterlet is characterized by faster growth, it is more plump and has greater fertility compared to the sharp-snouted sterlet. Sometimes the blunt-snouted sterlet is considered as a winter form, and the sharp-snouted sterlet as a spring form. Such morphological heterogeneity, expressed in differences in the special shape of the snout, is also characteristic of other sturgeon species closely associated with fresh waters - the Siberian and Amur sturgeon.

The biology of sterlet has been well studied. It winters in the river in pits, where it accumulates in large numbers; in spring, during high water, it rises upstream to spawning grounds. Sterlet breeds both in the riverbed and on rocky coastal ridges flooded by floods. The peak of spawning in the Middle Volga is in May. Males usually predominate on spawning grounds, each of which, apparently, participates in the insemination of eggs of several females. Sexual maturity in river conditions (Volga) for male sterlet occurred at 4–5 years, for females at 7–9 years. Fecundity fluctuates greatly, which is determined by the size of the females. The Volga sterlet lays from 4 to 140 thousand eggs, the Ob - from 6 to 45 thousand, the Irtysh - from 6 to 16 thousand. The eggs develop in about 4–5 days. The question of the frequency of sterlet spawning has not been fully clarified. Some researchers believe that sterlet spawns annually; others conclude that it breeds at intervals of 1–2 years.

After spawning, the sterlet is intensively fattened. Its food consists of small bottom invertebrates: larvae of chironomids, midges, mayflies, caddis flies, and mollusks. It also readily eats caviar laid by other fish, including anadromous sturgeon. During the summer of the mayfly, the sterlet rises to the surface, turns over with its belly up and collects insects that have fallen into the water with its mouth.

Runoff regulation had a very strong impact on the biology of sterlet. In reservoirs (for example, in Kuibyshevsky) it grows well, but does not mature well, and it has a significant percentage of fattened barn fish. In addition, her conditions here are greatly violated natural reproduction(great depths, lack of flow and suitable soil for spawning). In the Kuibyshev Reservoir, most females mature only at 10–14 years of age. Spawning grounds here are preserved only in the uppermost areas, where there is a more or less pronounced current.

Therefore, it is so necessary to carry out work on a large scale to artificially breed sterlet and stock it with fish in various water bodies. It should be remembered that it was the sterlet that was the object among sturgeons, the breeding experiments of which laid the foundation for domestic sturgeon breeding, the centenary of which was celebrated in 1969.

This species is a traditional and long-standing object of pond cultivation. In 1971 near Moscow, for the first time, it was possible to obtain offspring from sterlet spawners raised in cages installed in a reservoir, and later caviar and juveniles were obtained from fish kept in a warm-water farm at the State District Power Plant, which opens up great prospects for the use of this valuable species in commercial sturgeon farming.

Stellate sturgeon (Acipenser stellatus) It stands out well among other sturgeons due to its exceptionally long sword-shaped snout, which accounts for more than 60% of the length of the head. Based on this characteristic, as well as a number of physiological and biochemical differences from other sturgeon species, some researchers propose to classify the stellate sturgeon into an independent genus Helops. Her antennae are quite short, without fringes. The lower lip is interrupted in the middle. Reaches a length of 220 cm and a weight of 80 kg.

Stellate sturgeon is an anadromous fish, common in the basins of the Caspian, Black and Azov seas. It is found in small quantities in the Adriatic and Aegean seas. Forms local herds that gravitate towards certain rivers. The spawning grounds of stellate sturgeon are, as a rule, located below the spawning grounds of other anadromous sturgeon. In the past, it rose along the Volga to Rybinsk, entered the Oka and Kama; in the Urals it was found above Uralsk. A typical stellate river is the Kura, where previously, before the construction of the Mingachevir hydroelectric station, it reached the mouth of the Alazani. It also enters other Caspian rivers - Terek, Samur, Sulak, Astara, Sefidrud. In the Volga and at present, the sturgeon successfully breeds below Volgograd; Before the construction of the Volgograd hydroelectric power station, many fish traveled to Saratov to spawn. In the Urals, now the main stellate river, the main spawning grounds are located 300–400 km from the mouth, below the Inder Mountains. The Azov stellate sturgeon rises to spawn mainly in the Kuban, where it used to be found as far as Nevinnomyssk, and less so in the Don, along which at the beginning of the 20th century. reached the mouth of the Khopr. In the Kuban, before the regulation of its flow, the main spawning site for stellate sturgeon was the section of the river between the Tbilisskaya station and the city of Kropotkin. From the Black Sea, sturgeon goes to the Dnieper (it used to reach Kyiv), the Dniester, the Southern Bug, the Rioni, and the Danube.

It also forms seasonal races, but in most rivers the spring form predominates. Stellate sturgeon, unlike Russian sturgeon, prefers faster rivers for spawning, and its mass entry into them occurs during the spring flood (April–May). Apparently, this explains that in recent years, due to the deformation of the spring flood on the Volga, a significant part of the sturgeon of Volga origin (up to 25–30%) goes to spawn in the Urals.

Among our migratory sturgeons, the stellate sturgeon is the most heat-loving fish, and therefore its spawning run into rivers usually occurs later and at higher water temperatures than that of beluga and Russian sturgeon (maximum spring run in the Volga at 10–14 ° C; autumn run - at 13–17°С).

Sevruga is an early ripening species. The bulk of males of the Volga herd reach sexual maturity at the age of 8–11 years, females at 10–14 years. The predominant age groups of the common Ural stellate sturgeon are 10–17 years old among males and 12–17 years old among females. Males of the Kura herd mature at the age of 11–13 years, females at 14–17 years. The Azov sturgeon is the fastest growing: males become sexually mature at 5–8 years, females at 8–12 years. It is also characterized by the fastest growth.

The average weight of running males on the Volga in recent years is 6–7 kg, females – 11–12 kg; in the Urals, male stellate sturgeon going to spawn have average weight 6 kg, females – 10 kg.

Spawning periods are quite extended: in the Volga - from May to August, in the Kura - from April to September, in the Kuban - from April to August, in the Don - from May to June. Spawning usually occurs at a water temperature of at least 18–19°C.

Fertility of stellate sturgeon different rivers varies greatly: in the Volga - from 92 to 633 thousand eggs, in the Ural - from 19 to 743 thousand, in the Kura - from 35 to 360 thousand, in the Kuban - from 150 to 380 thousand.

After spawning, the stellate sturgeon does not linger in the river, but immediately slides into the sea to its feeding grounds. Most of all, in recent years, it has been found along the western coast of the Caspian Sea, in the area from the Agrakhan Spit to the Absheron Peninsula. In spring, stellate sturgeon begins to move north and is gradually distributed throughout the entire water area of ​​the Northern Caspian Sea.

The main food of stellate sturgeon in the Caspian Sea is now the multichaete worm Nereis, acclimatized here in the late 30s, as well as crustaceans. The Azov sturgeon feeds on worms and small fish (gobies, anchovy).

Stellate sturgeon takes first place in the sturgeon fishery. The bulk of it is mined in the Urals.

Among the very large anadromous sturgeons is Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser sturio). It is characterized by massive bugs, the surface of which is radially striated. In addition, there is a very strong bony ray in the pectoral fin. Reaches a length of 3 m and a weight of more than 200 kg.

The Atlantic sturgeon can serve as a sad example of how the once widespread and numerous species could not withstand the influence of humans on it and in a short time almost disappeared from the fauna of our planet. Also in mid-19th century V. this sturgeon was a commercial fish both off the coast of Europe and North America. It was found in the basins of the Baltic, Northern, Mediterranean and Black Seas, off the coast of France, Spain, and North Africa. It entered many rivers in Europe: the Rhine, Elbe, Oder, Vistula, Loire, Garonne, Seine, etc. It was distributed along the American shores of the Atlantic from Florida to Hudson Bay. Its catches began to fall catastrophically at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, and by the middle of this century it had practically disappeared from the rivers of Western Europe and North America. Back in the 30s, it entered the Neva from the Baltic Sea, ascended it to Lake Ladoga, from where it entered Volkhov, Svir, and Syas to spawn. Perhaps there was also a residential form of this sturgeon in Lake Ladoga. In 1953 There was a case of catching an Atlantic sturgeon in the White Sea.

Currently, a small population of this sturgeon, apparently numbering no more than 1000 adult fish, has survived only in the Black Sea, in the Rioni River basin in the Caucasus. Single individuals are also found in the Danube and Po.

Sturgeon enters Rioni from late April to June. There is no autumn move here. The age of males going to spawn is at least 7–9 years, females are at least 8–14 years old. The average size of running males is 137cm, females 182cm. The Rioni hydroelectric power station did not affect its main spawning grounds, which are located 120–130 km from the mouth. The height of spawning occurs in the second half of May. The fertility of females ranges from 200 thousand to 5.7 million eggs. After spawning, the sturgeon quickly slides into the sea. In the Black Sea it feeds mainly on anchovy.

Atlantic sturgeon is of exceptional value. It is characterized by a very high growth rate, significantly surpassing other sturgeon in this indicator. This species is included in the second edition of the Red Book of the USSR. For its artificial breeding, a fish factory was built on Rioni.

In many ways it is close to the Atlantic sturgeon Pacific, or Sakhalin, sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris), but its bony ray in the pectoral fin is much less developed. In the Pacific Ocean it is widespread, but very rare. Along the Asian coast it is found from the Amur estuary to Korea, in the rivers of Sakhalin and Primorye, off the coast of Hokkaido. Discovered in Olyutorsky Bay of the Bering Sea. Along the American coast it is known from San Francisco to the Columbia River.

Its biology has been studied extremely poorly. Reaches a length of more than 2 m, a weight of 60 kg. Leads a casual lifestyle. In our waters for spawning it enters small rivers flowing into the Tatar Strait (Tumnin River), into the Tym River on Sakhalin, and also, possibly, into tributaries of the Amur Estuary. Presented as a winter form. Goes to spawn late autumn, winters in the river and spawns the next year, in June–July. Spawning grounds are unknown. It feeds on bottom invertebrates and small fish. Also included in the Red Book of the USSR.

The central place in terms of numbers among sturgeons proper is occupied by Russian sturgeon (A. guldenstadti). It differs from other species in its short, blunt snout and the location of its antennae, which sit closer to the end of the snout than to the mouth. The antennae are without fringes, the lower lip is interrupted. Reaches a length of 230 cm and a weight of 80–100 kg.

Its range almost coincides with the ranges of beluga and stellate sturgeon. These are the basins of the Caspian, Black and Azov seas. Russian sturgeon also forms local herds, linked by breeding to individual rivers (Volga-Caspian, Ural-Caspian, Kurin, Dnieper, Danube, etc.).

In the rivers, sturgeon used to rise very high, much higher than stellate sturgeon. The main sturgeon river in the Caspian Sea is the Volga, along which it was known almost to the upper reaches (Rzhev), as well as in the Oka, Klyazma, Sheksna, Vetluga, Kama, Vyatka. In the 18th century apparently found even in the Moscow River, as mentioned by K. Roulier: "... around 1740, even sturgeons came from the Oka River to the Moscow River to the Stone Bridge, which no one remembers today..." Main The spawning grounds were located between Volgograd and Saratov. Many sturgeon entered the Urals, along which they climbed to the mouth of the Sakmara. It also goes to spawn in other rivers of the Caspian Sea: Kuru, Terek, Sulak, Samur. In a swimming pool Sea of ​​Azov it was most numerous in the Don, along which it rose to Zadonsk; significantly less in Kuban. The most important spawning rivers in the Black Sea are the Dnieper, where it previously rose to Dorogobuzh, the Danube, the Dniester, the Southern Bug, and the Rioni. As a result of flow regulation, most of the sturgeon spawning grounds were cut off.

In addition to the anadromous form, in the upper and middle sections of large rivers (Volga, Ural) there was also a residential form that constantly lived in fresh water, characterized by its smaller size and slower growth.

The course of sturgeon in rivers is very extended; it forms winter and spring forms. The sturgeon of the Volga-Caspian stock is most difficult to differentiate, in which early spring sturgeon are distinguished (maximum run from March to May at a water temperature of 4–8 ° C), late spring sturgeon (run in May–June at a water temperature of 16–22 ° C), winter sturgeon on the summer run (second half of May – July at a temperature of 18–24 °C) and winter sturgeon on the autumn run (from August to October at a temperature of 24–8 °C). Sturgeons of different biological groups differ in size, length of migration, degree of gonad maturity, duration of stay in fresh water and other indicators. Spawning of Volga sturgeon of all biological groups (except for late spring sturgeon) occurs during May at water temperatures from 9 to 16 °C.

The spawning population of the Ural sturgeon also has a complex structure, in which the mass movement of the spring form into the river is observed from the second half of April to mid-May, and the winter form - from late June to mid-August.

In general, in the Volga and Urals, as studies have shown, winter groups of sturgeon predominate.

On the contrary, in the rivers of the Azov-Black Sea basin, sturgeon is mainly represented by the spring form. In the past, its mass movement in the Don was observed from April to May; a weak rise (winter form) was observed in September–November. Approximately the same picture was observed in the Dnieper. The Kuban sturgeon, apparently, is represented entirely by the spring form, which entered the river in April–May and immediately reproduced.

The average weight of the running sturgeon on the Volga in 1977. was 21.2 kg (females) and 13.7 kg (males); in the Don, before the construction of the Tsimlyansk dam (1952), female sturgeon had an average weight of 26–27 kg and males 11–13 kg; in the Urals this figure for fish of both sexes in 1974. was equal to approximately 14.8 kg.

In the Northern Caspian Sea, male sturgeon reach sexual maturity no earlier than 12–13 years and females 15–16 years. The Azov sturgeon becomes sexually mature somewhat earlier: males at the age of 8–11 years, females at 11–15 years. Mass maturation of males of the Danube sturgeon stock occurs at 13 years, females at 15 years.

The fertility of Russian sturgeon varies within very wide limits - from 60 to 880 thousand eggs, averaging about 250-300 thousand eggs. After hatching, the young sturgeon roll into the sea that same summer, but some can remain in the river for up to 1–2 years.

The favorite food of sturgeon in sea pastures is shellfish. It also eats shrimp, crabs, and the Nereis worm. Fish (gobies, anchovy, sprat) are its secondary food. In the total production of sturgeon in the 70s, it took second place (after stellate sturgeon).

Recently, many researchers have identified Persian, or South Caspian, sturgeon (Acipenser persicus). It was first described at the end of the last century, but then was considered as a subspecies of Russian sturgeon (Southern Caspian) or as one of its intraspecific biological groups (Northern Caspian), the so-called late spring, or summer-spawning, sturgeon. It differs quite sharply from the Russian sturgeon in having a slightly lowered, massive, long snout, a smaller number of bugs in all rows, and also a gray-bluish color of the back. There are no less profound differences in a number of other morphological and physiological-biochemical parameters. The Persian sturgeon is on average much larger than the Russian one. In 1973 on the Volga, the weight of a female Persian sturgeon averaged 28 kg, while the weight of a female winter form of Russian sturgeon was 19 kg; male Persian sturgeon are almost twice as heavy as male Russian sturgeon (19 and 11 kg, respectively). To spawn, it enters the same rivers as the Russian sturgeon, but gravitates more towards the southern regions of the sea. The main spawning river for it was the Kura, but in recent years quite a lot of this sturgeon goes to the Volga and Ural. The Persian sturgeon rises low and reproduces in the same year when it enters the river. Spawning in summer, later than for Russian sturgeon, in July–August, at a water temperature of 20–22 °C. Fertility - from 84 to 837 thousand eggs (in Kura). The Persian sturgeon is of great interest as an object of fish farming.

In addition to sterlet, another representative of sturgeon lives in the rivers of Siberia - Siberian sturgeon (Acipenser baeri). But its range here is much wider. In addition to the Ob basin with the Irtysh and Yenisei, it is found further east, to Kolyma, and also in Lake Baikal. The sturgeon that lives in the rivers of Eastern Siberia (Lena, Olenek, Yana, Indigirka, Kolyma) is classified into a special subspecies - the Yakut sterlet-shaped sturgeon, or hatys (Acipenser baeri hatys). The Siberian sturgeon is easily distinguished from the sterlet by a smaller number of lateral bugs (no more than 50), and from the Russian sturgeon, to which it is close, by fan-shaped gill rakers and a more pointed snout. However, the shape of its snout, like that of the sterlet, varies greatly, and along with sharp-snouted specimens, blunt-snouted ones are also found in the same place.

Its dimensions vary in different pools. In the Ob and Baikal, sturgeon weighing 180–200 kg were found, in the Yenisei – up to 100 kg, in the Lena – up to 60 kg. The average fishing weight of Ob sturgeon is 15–16 kg, Yenisei sturgeon – 4–6 kg, Lena sturgeon – 2–3 kg.

Siberian sturgeon is a semi-anadromous fish. It feeds in the estuaries of Siberian rivers, and for reproduction it ascends many hundreds of kilometers along them: along the Ob, before the construction of the Novosibirsk hydroelectric power station, 2500 km, along the Yenisei 1500 km, along the Lena 500–700 km. This migration continues for more than a year and is interrupted by wintering in the river on pits (winter race). In addition to the migratory form, in most rivers it also has residential, sedentary groups. There are observations that mature semi-anadromous sturgeon, rising to the spawning grounds, are colored gray, smoky, and residential sturgeon are brownish-brown. The same differences in the color of these two forms were noted in the Amur sturgeon.

The Siberian sturgeon lives in very harsh conditions, grows more slowly than the Russian sturgeon, and matures late: males are no earlier than 15–18 years old, females - at 18–20 years old. The Lena sturgeon is more precocious, reaching sexual maturity earlier (males at 11–13 years, females at 13–15 years), while having very small, “sterlet” dimensions (length about 70 cm and weight 1.5–2 kg ).

Several thousand years ago, the Siberian sturgeon penetrated into Baikal (possibly from the Yenisei basin through the lower Angara) and formed here a unique lake-river form, which feeds in the coastal zone of this lake (to depths of 150–200 m), and breeds in major tributaries(Selenga, Barguzin, Upper Angara). The main spawning river is the Selenga, along which it rises 1000 km.

In the rivers of Siberia, sturgeon breed in the summer, in June–July; Baikal - a little earlier, at the end of May - the first half of June. Its fertility varies in different reservoirs: in the Ob - from 174 to 420 thousand eggs, in the Yenisei - from 79 to 250 thousand, in the Lena - from 16 to 110 thousand.

Its food consists of a variety of bottom organisms: larvae of chironomids, caddis flies, mayflies, amphipods, gammarids, worms, mollusks, and less often fish. In winter, under the ice, it does not stop feeding.

All Siberian sturgeons are of great interest for acclimatization and fish breeding work. They are promising for stocking large reservoirs and lakes, as well as in commercial sturgeon farming, especially in warm waters.

Siberian sturgeon is very unpretentious and has great growth potential. Lena sturgeon raised in warm water farms at state regional power plants grows 7–9 times faster than in natural conditions. In 1981 at the Konakovskaya State District Power Plant, near Moscow, for the first time it was possible to obtain offspring from him: in the pools, females matured at the age of 8 years, males at 4 years (i.e., much earlier than on the Lena).

Very close to Siberian Amur sturgeon (Acipenser schrencki), from which it differs in the shape of its gill rakers: they are not fan-shaped, but single-pointed, smooth. It is likely that the Amur sturgeon is only a subspecies of the Siberian sturgeon. It is widespread in the Amur basin, from the estuary to Shilka and Argun. Forms semi-anadromous and residential forms; the latter is represented by a number of local herds. Length up to 2 m, weight up to 56 kg (in the past up to 160 kg). Males reach sexual maturity at 10–13 years, females at 11–14 years. Spawning in the Amur riverbed occurs in May–June. The main spawning grounds are above Nikolaevsk-on-Amur. Fertility – from 29 to 434 thousand eggs. By the nature of its diet, the Amur sturgeon is a typical benthophage.

In addition to the reservoirs of the USSR, a number of sturgeon species are found in other areas of the northern hemisphere. The Adriatic Sea is inhabited in small quantities by the migratory Adriatic sturgeon (Acipenser naccarii), which enters the Po River. The blunt-nosed sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostris) enters the rivers of the Atlantic coast of North America to spawn. Along the American Pacific coast from Alaska to California, very large white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) are found. In North America, in the Great Lakes and basins of the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, the freshwater lake, or brown, sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens), very similar in biology to the Baikal sturgeon, lives. Two species of Japanese anadromous sturgeon (Acipenser kikuchii and Acipenser multiscutatus) are found in the waters of the southern Sea of ​​Japan. There are two species of Chinese sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis and Acipenser dabrianus) found in China (Yangtze). All of these species, with the exception of the American lake sturgeon, are very rare and commercial value Dont Have.

The subfamily of shovelnose fish (Scaphirhynchinae) includes very peculiar fish, well adapted to living in fast flowing water carrying a large amount of suspended matter. The eyes of shovelnose snakes are very small, often almost completely covered with skin, and vision big role does not play in the life of these fish. But the sense of touch is well developed, the organs of which are the long antennae and, apparently, the entire lower surface of the snout. Large bony bugs, forming a kind of shell, provide good protection from mechanical damage and solid particles carried by the flow. The flat, spade-shaped snout serves to hold the fish in a fast current: a stream of water flowing over it presses the fish to the bottom.

Shovelnoses distributed in two regions of the globe: the genus American shovelnose (Scaphirhynchus) is found in the Mississippi basin, the genus of pseudoscaphirhynchus (Pseudoscaphirhynchus) is found in the Amu Darya and Syr Darya basin. Central Asian shovelnose fish differ from American shovelnose fish by a shorter caudal peduncle, not entirely covered with scutes, and a reduced swim bladder (in American shovelnose fish it is well developed).

There are two species in the American shovelnose genus: common shovelnose (Scaphirhynchus platorhynchus), having a length of up to 90 cm, and significantly more common white shovelnose (Scaphirhynchus albus), the length of which can reach 1 m.

Both species are typical river fish, with the white shovelnose living in the faster current (lower Missouri). They breed in spring and summer and enter tributaries with rocky soil to spawn. They feed mainly on aquatic insect larvae. The common shovelnose fish used to be an important fishery target. Now the numbers of both species have sharply declined.

Central Asian shovelnoses are represented by three species, two of which – the large pseudoscaphirhynchus kaufmanni) and the small pseudoscaphirhynchus hermanni – are found in the Amu Darya and one species, the Fedchenko pseudoscaphirhynchus (Pseudoscaphirhynchus fedtschenkoi) – in the Syrdarya. The last two species have always been very rare. They became known to science quite recently, at the end of the last century. Found the Syrdarya shovelnose in 1871. The outstanding Russian geographer and traveler A.P. Fedchenko discovered the large Amu Darya shovelnose in 1874. the famous naturalist M.N. Bogdanov, and the small shovelnose in 1870. discovered in the Amu Darya by zoogographer Academician N.A. Severtsov.

Shovelnoses inhabit the lowland areas of these rivers, from the seashore to the foothills. They do not go into the salty water of the Aral Sea. The size of Central Asian shovelnose snakes is small. The largest of them - the large Amudarya - reaches a length of 58 cm and a weight of 760 g (as an exception, in the past there were specimens weighing up to 2 kg). The small shovelnose is much smaller, up to 27 cm; the Syr Darya shovelnose, similar to it, has the same dimensions.

Shovelnoses are typical inhabitants of the riverbed. They live on sandy and pebble shallows and in channels. To hold on to a fast current, in addition to the wide and flat snout, the small and Syrdarya shovelnose fish have a peculiar folded shape of pectoral fins, which play the role of suckers. In the large Amu Darya shovelnose (and some specimens of the Syrdarya one), the upper lobe of the caudal fin is elongated into a long thread, apparently performing the function of a balancer. At the end of the snout of a large shovelnose there are from 1 to 9 sharp spines, which probably play important role when breeding in fast currents.

Shovelers breed on coarse sandbanks and rocky placers in the river bed at shallow depths (1.5–2 m). Spawning occurs in early spring, in March–April, at a water temperature of 14–16 °C. The female large shovelnose lays up to 15 thousand eggs, but usually no more than 2 thousand; the Syrdarya shoveler sweeps up to 1.5 thousand eggs; The fecundity of the small shovelnose bat is unknown. They reach sexual maturity at the age of 6–7 years; Males usually mature a year earlier than females. In addition to the usual form, the large shovelnose is described as having a stunted dwarf form, which matures at a length of 23–24 cm and a weight of only 39–40 g.

The favorite food of shovelers is small bottom invertebrates (larvae of chironomids, caddis flies, mayflies), as well as fish eggs. The large shovelnose also feeds on larger prey (barbel fry, saberfish, loaches, and spearfish).

Indigenous population on the Amu Darya for a long time did not eat the large shovelnose because of its long “tail”, reminiscent of a mouse or snake (hence local name this fish is a mousetail or snaketail). The Ural Cossacks, who moved to the Amu Darya at the end of the last century, began catching shovelnose fish. The meat of these fish tastes like sterlet.

Currently, due to a sharp change in the water regime of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya as a result of irrigation hydroconstruction, there are almost no places left suitable for their reproduction. Many juvenile shovelnose fish die under the scorching rays of the sun, falling through water intake structures into irrigation systems. The number of these fish is now very small, and all three species of Central Asian shovelnose fish are included in the Red Book of the USSR.

The sturgeon family belongs to the few remnants of the most ancient forms, the heyday of which occurred in the time preceding the appearance of bony waterfowl.

Structure

One of the oldest characteristics of sturgeons is the preserved cartilaginous notochord, which serves as the basis of the axial skeleton. Even adult fish of this family lack vertebral bodies. The peculiarities of sturgeon are contained in the preserved cartilaginous basis of the internal skeleton and cranium.

Like sharks, this ancient family has a squirter. It is a special hole leading from the gill cavity to the upper edge of its cover. At the base of the ventral fins there is an anus. The conus arteriosus is located in the heart muscle, and the spiral valve is located in the intestine.

Sturgeon fish still retain a special enamel-like substance called ganoin on their rhombic scales. This is a distinctive characteristic of sturgeon. That is why fish of this family are also called cartilaginous ganoids.

The habitat of freshwater and anadromous sturgeon is the Northern Hemisphere. They are distinguished from all other fish by the presence of bony plates pointed towards the apex. One row of them is located on the back, two are located on the sides and on the belly. The top row goes from the back of the head to the very base of the fin. The lateral ones extend from the gill opening to the tail. The abdominal rows extend to the lower fins, starting from the shoulder girdle. Smaller ones are scattered between the large plates.

Sturgeon fish have a spindle-shaped, elongated body. Their heads are covered with durable bone scutes. Various species of sturgeon fish have a sword-shaped, elongated or conically pointed snout. The mouth, located at the bottom of the head, is a transverse slit. It can be semicircular with fleshy lips, or retractable without teeth. In front of the mouth, forming a transverse row, there are four antennae.

Sturgeon breeds have a heterocercal (unequal) caudal fin. Their spine has a sharp bend at the end. This is the basis of the caudal fin, which is covered with rhombic scales.

There is a strong thickening on the pectoral fin. Its anterior ray is a spine. Peculiarities dorsal fin sturgeon is that it is moved far away from the head.

Spawning

Sturgeon fish are long-lived. The only exception is sterlet. Puberty of these fish occurs late, only when they reach a significant size. To spawn, sturgeons rise into rivers. However, they do not spawn annually.

At the end of spawning, sturgeon fish roll back into the sea. Here they feed and increase in size, so that after two or three years they come out again to spawn.

Growth of juveniles

Sturgeon larvae live for a long period, feeding on the contents of the yolk sac. After the resorption of its walls, they exist by eating small zooplankton, and a little later - bottom organisms.

The fry begin their journey along the river and end up in the sea in the summer. The situation is somewhat different in large reservoirs. Here the young can stay for two to three years. But after that she will certainly begin her journey to the sea.

In Russia there are huge natural nurseries for sturgeon fish. These are such inland seas as the Azov, Caspian and Black. In them, fish feed and grow until puberty, as well as during the periods between spawnings.

Diversity of Representatives

The sturgeon family includes semi-anadromous, anadromous species, as well as individuals living in freshwater bodies. They can be found in the seas and rivers of Europe, North America and northern Asia.

All sturgeon fish are divided into four genera and twenty-five species. Some of them are distributed in the territory of the former Soviet Union. Here, in the sea basins in the south, as well as in the Baltic Sea, in the Amur and in the rivers of Siberia, three genera and thirteen species are found.

Sturgeon fish, the names of which are presented below, include in their list:

Sevruga;

Sterlet;

All of them are passable. Only one sturgeon fish is freshwater. This is a sterlet.

Description of representatives of the species

The sturgeon fish, which is found in the basins of the Black, Azov and Caspian seas, is the Russian sturgeon. Sometimes the length of some of its representatives reaches two meters. The average weight of Russian sturgeon ranges from 12 to 24 kilograms. Very rarely it can exceed the 80 kg mark.

The order “sturgeon” is represented by such valuable commercial fish as the Siberian sturgeon. These individuals differ from other species in their high fatness. The average weight of Siberian sturgeon is from 9 to 22 kg. There are individuals reaching one hundred or more kilograms.

A very valuable commercial sturgeon fish is the stellate sturgeon. It is found in the Caspian and also in the Azov-Black Sea basins. The main differences between the stellate sturgeon are its long sword-shaped snout and a large number of star-shaped light plates on the sides. These individuals are characterized by a broken lower lip. The average weight of stellate sturgeon is between seven and eight kilograms. The value of fish lies in its meat, which has high taste.

In the rivers Western Siberia and the European part of the CIS there is another representative of sturgeon - sterlet. The average weight of individuals reaches 250-700 grams. Sterlet is distinguished by a larger number of lateral plates than other sturgeons. These fish have fringed antennae. Sterlet meat is very tasty. The soup made from it is especially good.

The only fish in the Aral Basin belonging to the sturgeon family is the sturgeon. Representatives of this species can also be found in the Azov, Caspian and Black Seas. The average weight of a spike ranges from 12 to 15 kg. There are individuals up to one hundred kilograms. The thorn has a round mouth, a pointed snout and a large first dorsal plate.

Beluga is found in the Azov-Black Sea and Caspian basins. Sturgeon of this species live a very long time and reach enormous sizes. Beluga is considered one of the largest fish that lives in freshwater bodies of the globe. More recently, giant specimens were caught, the length of which was from four to five meters, and the mass was more than a ton. Their ages were also determined. It was 65-70 years old.

Another representative of the sturgeon family, kaluga, is very similar to beluga. This is a valuable commercial fish found in the Amur River. Externally, they can be distinguished by the first dorsal plates. In the beluga it is the smallest, and in the kaluga it is larger than all the others.

Nutrition

Almost all species of sturgeon fish use invertebrates that live at the bottom of the reservoir as their main food source. Their list includes worms and crustaceans, chironomid larvae and mollusks.

Based on the type of feeding, sturgeon representatives are classified as benthophages. But there is an exception. Thus, the largest species of sturgeon (beluga and kaluga) are predatory.

The main food reserves for sturgeon are concentrated in the Sea of ​​Azov. There is food for these fish in the northwestern parts of the Black Sea, as well as in the northern part of the Caspian Sea. Semi-anadromous types of the sturgeon family feed in the deltas of fast and large rivers. There is food for them in the pre-estuarine zones. With the onset of a warm period, these fish rise up river beds to spawn.

Representatives of sturgeon grow very quickly. This is facilitated by their ability to use existing food resources with maximum efficiency.

An interesting fact is that in the same body of water sometimes there are species of sturgeon that differ in the type of food they eat. Moreover, they all complement each other in a certain way. For example, in the Caspian basin, beluga is a common predatory fish. There is also a Russian sturgeon that eats shellfish. The food for stellate sturgeon are crustaceans and worms. Freshwater sterlet eats small invertebrates that live on the bottom of rivers. Thus, the food supply of the reservoir is used most efficiently.

Differences within species

Migratory sturgeons have enough complex classification. Within each species there are certain races. They differ in their breeding season. So, some of the subspecies go to spawn in the warm period, while others - in the cold.

The existence of different races is also possible due to differences in the use of places chosen for the deposition of eggs.

The emergence of hybrids

Sometimes crossbreeding occurs in natural conditions various types sturgeons among themselves. As a result, a variety of hybrid options appear.

A huge number of individuals have been studied that arose from the crossing of almost all species of sturgeon. Recently, the diversity of hybrids continues to increase. This is due to a decrease in the area of ​​areas that are suitable for spawning. In those reservoirs where deposition of eggs is possible, there is a large accumulation of individuals of various species.

Shovel-nosed

These are very peculiar fish that belong to the sturgeon subfamily. Shovel-nosed fish are adapted to life in fast flows of water carrying a large number of different suspensions.

A characteristic feature of representatives of this subfamily are very small eyes, sometimes almost covered with skin. This indicates that vision in these fish does not play a special role in life. But shovel-nosed animals have a superbly developed sense of touch. Its main organs are long antennae and the lower part of the snout. The body of these fish is protected from mechanical damage by large bony plates, which are a kind of shell. It is no coincidence that shovel-nosed animals have a flat snout. This shape allows the fish to stay afloat under a fast stream of water.

Representatives of this sturgeon subfamily can be found only in two regions of our planet. Individuals belonging to the genus American shovelnose are found in the Mississippi River basin. They are divided into two types. The first includes the common shovelnose. This is a fish whose length reaches 90 cm. White shovelnose is somewhat less common in Mississippi. This is a typical river fish, whose habitat is parts of the river with a very fast current. The length of representatives of this species reaches one meter.

False pathologists are a genus of sturgeon that live in the basins of rivers such as the Syr Darya and Amu Darya. This fish differs from its American relatives in its shorter body and fewer bony scutes.

Central Asian shovelnose snakes choose flat areas of river beds as their habitat. These fish do not go into the salty waters of the Aral Sea. The largest Amu Darya shovelnose reaches a length of 58 cm. Its weight is 760 g. A small representative of this genus has a body whose length does not exceed 27 cm.

Shovelnose stick to pebble and sandbanks. They can also be found in ducts. It’s not just the flat and wide snout that helps these fish stay in fast currents of water. Their pectoral fins, which act as suction cups, also have a special folded shape.

Shovelnose breeding occurs on sandy coarse-grained shallows, as well as on rocky placers, which are found in river beds at a depth of one and a half to two meters. Spawning of these fish occurs in March-April, when the water temperature reaches 14-16 degrees.

The main food of shovelnose fish is bottom invertebrates and fish eggs. Larger individuals prefer juvenile sabrefish, barbel and other large prey.

Delicacy fish

Sturgeon fish can be found on sale both live and chilled, smoked and frozen. It is used for the production of various canned food and balyk.

The sale of salted sturgeon fish is prohibited. This is due to the likelihood of the presence in delicatessen meat of a pathogenic anaerobe - botulinus, which causes severe poisoning.

Previously, only those belonging to the sturgeon family were called red fish. These are species such as sterlet, beluga, sturgeon and stellate sturgeon. But they were valued not at all for the pinkish-yellow color of the meat, but for their high nutritional and taste qualities. Today this common name is also assigned to salmon species. Thus, chum salmon, pink salmon and salmon are called red.

There is a certain trade and culinary classification of this fish. Its first group includes sturgeons, whose habitat is Black and Caspian Sea. These are species such as stellate sturgeon and sturgeon, thorn and sterlet, and beluga. The second group includes salmon, such as trout and salmon, chum salmon and pink salmon, and the third group includes white salmon species (taimen and nelma, coho salmon and white fish).

The value of red fish meat is determined by the rich content of iodine and fluorine, calcium and phosphorus, zinc, vitamins B, A, D, PP and E. But the most important for human health is Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid. It is necessary to improve memory, maintain immunity and normal brain function.

Scientists have confirmed that those who regularly include red fish in their diet reduce the risk of cancer and hypertension by three times, and also do not experience depression.

More important than all sturgeon fish beluga(Huso huso), the giant of the entire family and clan; this fish reaches 8 m, and according to Lindeman, even 15 m in length and from 1000 to 1600 kg in weight*.

* The size that beluga can reach is greatly exaggerated: the length of record specimens does not exceed 5 m. The maximum life expectancy is 100 years.

The beluga is distinguished by a short triangular muzzle, flat antennae, a somewhat notched upper lip, divided in the middle by a lower lip, low back and front, and elevated dorsal scutes in the middle and small free-standing side scutes. The upper side is usually dark gray, the ventral side is dirty white; snout yellowish-white; the shields are the same color as the sides.
The distribution area is limited to the Black and Caspian seas, from where it penetrates into the rivers flowing into them.
Our current information about the life of fish in general leads us to the conclusion that the lifestyle of different species of sturgeon is, in general, almost the same.

They are actually marine fish and visit fresh waters only to breed or hibernate. We know nothing about how sturgeons live in the sea, to what depth they go and what kind of food they find in salt water. But, in any case, we must admit that in the sea, as in rivers, they prefer sandy or muddy soil and, almost burrowing in it, slowly move forward, crawling rather than swimming; With their sharp snout they tear up silt and sand and look for the necessary food in the seabed with their lips extended forward*.

* Brem is wrong - sturgeons try to avoid areas with a muddy bottom and never burrow into the ground. In order to find food, they do not tear up the soil with their snouts or their antennae.

In the stomachs of those fish that visited the rivers, they found, along with animal food, almost decomposed remains of plants, but the latter could also accidentally get there. In any case, we must classify all sturgeons as predatory fish; about the more famous species, we can probably say that they rise into the rivers following fish from the carp family and feed almost exclusively on them. However, during their travels, sturgeons rise to the upper layers of water and then move relatively quickly. These journeys are carried out in different species almost simultaneously (from March to May and late autumn) by entire societies, the size of which varies depending on the terrain and other circumstances. In rivers abounding in fish, the number of sturgeon has greatly decreased; This is all the more noticeable the more fishing gear improves; in some very large rivers, on the contrary, they are found in even greater numbers, since the vastness of these waters does not allow fishermen to pursue them everywhere**.

* * Sturgeon catches in the Caspian and Black Seas have decreased several times over the past few years; in other areas of the world, their numbers in natural reservoirs are also low. Therefore, sturgeon are being bred and grown artificially. These fish are characterized by fast growth and unpretentiousness; the scale of artificial cultivation of sturgeon, primarily Siberian sturgeon, Acipenser baerii, is rapidly increasing.

All sturgeons are among the most prolific fish known to us. Beluga sturgeons were found whose ovaries, with a total weight of 1400 kg, weighed 400 kg. Eggs are laid by fish on the bottom of the river, after which the fish quickly rise to the upper layers and swim into the open sea, while the young remain in the river water for quite a long time, maybe even the first two years of life.
The meat of all types of sturgeon is very tasty, as a result of which they are caught everywhere and eaten fresh, salted or smoked. Among ancient peoples, sturgeon was held in high esteem.
“Bring the sturgeon to the Palatine’s table, so that the feast will be decorated with such a rare dish,” says Marpial. Among the rich Romans, this fish was decorated with flowers when served to the table. In Greece, its meat was considered the most noble dish; in China it was reserved for the emperor’s table; in England and France, the right to eat sturgeon belonged only to the sovereign and the richest nobles; In Russia, sturgeon meat is also highly valued. However, sturgeon are caught for their caviar and swim bladder rather than their meat. As is known, caviar is prepared from their eggs, and the most beautiful glue is made from the bubble.
From representatives of the genus sturgeon(Acipenser) I will first mention the most famous Atlantic sturgeon(Acipenser sturios); it has a not very elongated muzzle, a narrow upper lip, a swollen and divided lower lip in the middle, simple mustaches closely adjacent to each other, large lateral scutes and low dorsal scutes on the sides, convex in the middle. The color of the upper part is more or less dark brown or yellow-brown, the lower part is shiny silvery-white; the scutes have a dirty white tint. The length can reach 6 m, but rarely exceeds 2 m*.

* The Atlantic sturgeon is the largest of the sturgeons, reaching over 3 m in length and over 300 kg in weight.

Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The North and Baltic Seas are home to Atlantic sturgeon, which, however, is also found off the eastern coast of North America; in the Black Sea it is completely absent and is also never found in the Danube basin**.

* * Lives in the Black Sea, but rarely.

Sterlet(Acipenser rithenus) is easily recognized by its elongated, narrow snout and rather long antennae, fringed on the inside; on a narrow upper lip a slight notch is visible; the lower lip is divided in the middle. The dorsal shields are slightly elevated in front, but rise gradually towards the tail and end in a point. The color of the back is dark gray, the belly is lighter; pectoral, dorsal and caudal fins are gray, ventral and anal fins are dirty white; the dorsal scutes are the same color as the back, the lateral and ventral scutes are whitish. Its length rarely exceeds 1 m; weight no more than 12 kg. The sterlet lives in the Black Sea and rises from there along all the rivers flowing into it, for example into the Danube and almost all of its tributaries. It is constantly caught near Vienna. In addition to the Black Sea, it is also found in the Caspian Sea, and therefore is also caught in all the rivers flowing into it, as well as in Siberian rivers, namely the Ob.

They tried several times to move the sterlet to the rivers of northern Germany, and, apparently, it acclimatized in the Oder***.

* * * Brehm is wrong. Sterlet is a freshwater fish and goes to sea extremely rarely.

Sterlet appears somewhat less frequently in the middle part of the Danube stellate sturgeon(Acipenser stellatus); it is very similar to the sterlet, lives in the same seas, is quite common in Russia and reaches about 2 m in length and 25 kg in weight; it can be easily recognized by its long, sharp, sword-shaped snout, simple antennae, notched upper lip, almost absent lower lip, and separated side scutes. The light reddish-brown back is sometimes bluish-black; the lower part of the muzzle is meat-colored; the sides and belly are white, the shields are dirty white.

• - Sturgeon - anadromous, semi-anadromous and freshwater fish; They inhabit the waters of the northern hemisphere - Europe, Northern Asia and North America...

  Biological encyclopedia

• - family of fish neg. sturgeon. Anadromous, semi-anadromous and freshwater fish. There are five rows of bone bugs along the body. The anterior ray of the pectoral fins is in the form of a thick spine. There are 4 antennae in front of the mouth...

  Biological encyclopedic dictionary

• - taxonomic category in biol. taxonomy. S. unites closely related genera that have a common origin. Latin name S. is formed by adding the endings –idae and –aseae to the stem of the name of the type genus...

  Dictionary of microbiology

• - family - .One of the main categories in biological systematics, unites genera that have a common origin; also - a family, a small group of individuals related by blood and including parents and their offspring...
• - family, taxonomic category in the taxonomy of animals and plants...

  Veterinary encyclopedic dictionary

• - The elongated spindle-shaped body of sturgeon fish is covered with reliable armor made of five rows of hard bone bugs: one row on the back, two on the sides of the body and two on the belly...

  Pisces of Russia. Directory

• - A highly productive group of breeding queens descended from an outstanding ancestor and descendants similar to her in type and productivity...

  Terms and definitions used in breeding, genetics and reproduction of farm animals

• - taxonomic category in biol. taxonomy. In S., closely related genera are united. For example, S. squirrels includes the genera: squirrels, marmots, ground squirrels, etc....
• - Thomas Nash had two sons - Anthony and John - to each of whom Shakespeare bequeathed 26 shillings 8 pence to purchase mourning rings. The brothers acted as witnesses in some of the playwright's transactions...

  Shakespeare Encyclopedia

• - Alu-family - .A family of moderately repetitive DNA sequences known in many mammals and some other organisms...

  Molecular biology and genetics. Dictionary

• - family of fish nadotr. cartilaginous ganoids. Dl. up to 9 m, weight up to 1.5 tons, 4 genera, 23 species, in the North. hemispheres. Anadromous, semi-anadromous and freshwater fish. Number is shrinking. 5 species are protected...

  Natural science. encyclopedic Dictionary

• - a term very close, and for some authors coinciding with the term ore formation. According to Magakyan, “paragenetic ass. minerals and elements formed in certain geol. and physico-chemical. conditions”...

  Geological encyclopedia

• - a family of fish from the ganoid order, suborder Chondrostei. Characterized by the following signs: the body is elongated, almost valval, with 5 longitudinal rows of bone scutes...

  Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Euphron

• - a family of fish of the cartilaginous ganoid group. Snout more or less elongated; mouth without teeth, retractable, lower, 4 antennae in front of it. The internal skeleton is cartilaginous...

  Great Soviet Encyclopedia

• - a family of fish of the superorder of cartilaginous ganoids. Length up to 9 m, weight up to 1.5 tons. 4 genera, 23 species, in the Northern Hemisphere. Anadromous, semi-anadromous and freshwater fish. The number is declining. 5 species - protected...

  Large encyclopedic dictionary

• - sturgeon pl. A family of fish that includes sterlet, stellate sturgeon, beluga, sturgeon and...

  Explanatory Dictionary by Efremova

"The Sturgeon Family" in books

Sturgeon breeds

From the book Cookbook of Orthodox Fasts author Kashin Sergey Pavlovich

Sturgeon breeds

From the book The World's Best Fish Dishes author Zubakin Mikhail

Sturgeon merchant cabbage rolls

From the book Festive Table in Russian author collection of recipes

STURGEON FISH

From book 1000 delicious dishes[for reader programs WITH SUPPORT OF tables] author DRASUTENE E.

STURGEON AND STURGEON FISH*

From the book Great Culinary Dictionary by Dumas Alexander

STURGEON FAMILY

From the book Recreational Fishing [with illustrations] author Kurkin Boris Mikhailovich

STURGEON FAMILY Fish of this family differ significantly from all others in that on their elongated, spindle-shaped body there are five longitudinal rows of bony bugs - convex, irregularly shaped on top. One row of them is located on the back, two - on the sides of the body, and two -

Sturgeon family

From the book Catching Popular Fish Species author Kataeva Irina Vladimirovna

Sturgeon family

Sturgeon

From the book Profitable Fish Farming author Zvonarev Nikolai Mikhailovich

Sturgeon The possibility of growing sturgeon near your home is of particular interest. Most widely used for commercial cultivation the following types and hybrid forms: Lena and Russian sturgeon, beluga, sterlet, bester (a hybrid of beluga and sterlet),

FAMILY OF PUMAS?

From the book The Most Incredible Cases author

FAMILY OF PUMAS?

From the book Incredible Cases author Nepomnyashchiy Nikolai Nikolaevich

FAMILY OF PUMAS? Not for the first time, finding themselves without help, local farmers are trying to solve an ominous mystery on their own. In 1986, flocks of sheep in Cinco Villas de Aragon were attacked by some cruel beast. The newspaper Diario de Navarra reported the incident as follows:

Sturgeon fish

From the book Encyclopedic Dictionary (N-O) author Brockhaus F.A.

Sturgeon fishes Sturgeon fishes (Acipeuseridae) are a family of fish from the order (other subclass) ganoids (Ganoidei), suborder (other order) Chondrostei. They are characterized by the following features: the body is elongated, almost valval, with 5 longitudinal rows of bony scutes; muzzle

Family

From the book Encyclopedic Dictionary (C) author Brockhaus F.A.

Family Family (famila) – taxonomic group, proposed in 1780 by Batsch and usually encompassing several genera (genera.), although there are S. containing only one genus. Several (or even one) S. form a suborder or detachment (subordo and ordo). Sometimes S. contains

Family

From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (SE) by the author TSB

Sturgeon

From the book Great Soviet Encyclopedia (OS) by the author TSB

bb) The whole family

From the book Outline of Christian Moral Teaching author Feofan the Recluse

bb) The whole family Under the head and the whole family - all its members. First of all, they must have a head, not remain without it, and not allow there to be two or more of them. This is required by simple prudence and their own good, otherwise impossible, p) Then, when

The sturgeon family belongs to the few remnants of the most ancient forms, the heyday of which occurred in the time preceding the appearance of bony waterfowl.

Structure

One of the oldest characteristics of sturgeons is the preserved cartilaginous notochord, which serves as the basis of the axial skeleton. Even adult fish of this family lack vertebral bodies. The peculiarities of sturgeon are contained in the preserved cartilaginous basis of the internal skeleton and cranium.

Like sharks, this ancient family has a squirter. It is a special hole leading from the gill cavity to the upper edge of its cover. At the base of the ventral fins there is an anus. The conus arteriosus is located in the heart muscle, and the spiral valve is located in the intestine.

Sturgeon fish still retain a special enamel-like substance called ganoin on their rhombic scales. This is a distinctive characteristic of sturgeon. That is why fish of this family are also called cartilaginous ganoids.

The habitat of freshwater and anadromous sturgeon is the Northern Hemisphere. They are distinguished from all other fish by the presence of bony plates pointed towards the apex. One row of them is located on the back, two are located on the sides and on the belly. The top row goes from the back of the head to the very base of the fin. The lateral ones extend from the gill opening to the tail. The abdominal rows extend to the lower fins, starting from the shoulder girdle. Smaller ones are scattered between the large plates.

Sturgeon fish have a spindle-shaped, elongated body. Their heads are covered with durable bone scutes. Various species of sturgeon fish have a sword-shaped, elongated or conically pointed snout. The mouth, located at the bottom of the head, is a transverse slit. It can be semicircular with fleshy lips, or retractable without teeth. In front of the mouth, forming a transverse row, there are four antennae.

Sturgeon breeds have a heterocercal (unequal) caudal fin. Their spine has a sharp bend at the end. This is the basis of the caudal fin, which is covered with rhombic scales.

There is a strong thickening on the pectoral fin. Its anterior ray is a spine. The peculiarity of the sturgeon's dorsal fin is that it is set far away from the head.

Spawning

Sturgeon fish are long-lived. The only exception is sterlet. Puberty of these fish occurs late, only when they reach a significant size. To spawn, sturgeons rise into rivers. However, they do not spawn annually.

At the end of spawning, sturgeon fish roll back into the sea. Here they feed and increase in size, so that after two or three years they come out again to spawn.

Growth of juveniles

Sturgeon larvae live for a long period, feeding on the contents of the yolk sac. After the resorption of its walls, they exist by eating small zooplankton, and a little later - bottom organisms.

The fry begin their journey along the river and end up in the sea in the summer. The situation is somewhat different in large reservoirs. Here the young can stay for two to three years. But after that she will certainly begin her journey to the sea.

In Russia there are huge natural nurseries for sturgeon fish. These are such inland seas as the Azov, Caspian and Black. In them, fish feed and grow until puberty, as well as during the periods between spawnings.

Diversity of Representatives

The sturgeon family includes semi-anadromous, anadromous species, as well as individuals living in freshwater bodies. They can be found in the seas and rivers of Europe, North America and northern Asia.

All sturgeon fish are divided into four genera and twenty-five species. Some of them are distributed in the territory of the former Soviet Union. Here, in the sea basins in the south, as well as in the Baltic Sea, in the Amur and in the rivers of Siberia, three genera and thirteen species are found.

Sturgeon fish, the names of which are presented below, include in their list:

Sevruga;

Sterlet;

All of them are passable. Only one sturgeon fish is freshwater. This is a sterlet.

Description of representatives of the species

The sturgeon fish, which is found in the basins of the Black, Azov and Caspian seas, is the Russian sturgeon. Sometimes the length of some of its representatives reaches two meters. The average weight of Russian sturgeon ranges from 12 to 24 kilograms. Very rarely it can exceed the 80 kg mark.

The order “sturgeon” is represented by such valuable commercial fish as the Siberian sturgeon. These individuals differ from other species in their high fatness. The average weight of Siberian sturgeon is from 9 to 22 kg. There are individuals reaching one hundred or more kilograms.

A very valuable commercial sturgeon fish is the stellate sturgeon. It is found in the Caspian and also in the Azov-Black Sea basins. The main differences between the stellate sturgeon are its long sword-shaped snout and a large number of star-shaped light plates on the sides. These individuals are characterized by a broken lower lip. The average weight of stellate sturgeon is between seven and eight kilograms. The value of fish lies in its meat, which has high taste.

In the rivers of Western Siberia and the European part of the CIS there is another representative of the sturgeon - the sterlet. The average weight of individuals reaches 250-700 grams. Sterlet is distinguished by a larger number of lateral plates than other sturgeons. These fish have fringed antennae. Sterlet meat is very tasty. The soup made from it is especially good.

The only fish in the Aral Basin belonging to the sturgeon family is the sturgeon. Representatives of this species can also be found in the Azov, Caspian and Black Seas. The average weight of a spike ranges from 12 to 15 kg. There are individuals up to one hundred kilograms. The thorn has a round mouth, a pointed snout and a large first dorsal plate.

Beluga is found in the Azov-Black Sea and Caspian basins. Sturgeon of this species live a very long time and reach enormous sizes. Beluga is considered one of the largest fish that lives in freshwater bodies of the globe. More recently, giant specimens were caught, the length of which was from four to five meters, and the mass was more than a ton. Their ages were also determined. It was 65-70 years old.

Another representative of the sturgeon family, kaluga, is very similar to beluga. This is a valuable commercial fish found in the Amur River. Externally, they can be distinguished by the first dorsal plates. In the beluga it is the smallest, and in the kaluga it is larger than all the others.

Nutrition

Almost all species of sturgeon fish use invertebrates that live at the bottom of the reservoir as their main food source. Their list includes worms and crustaceans, chironomid larvae and mollusks.

Based on the type of feeding, sturgeon representatives are classified as benthophages. But there is an exception. Thus, the largest species of sturgeon (beluga and kaluga) are predatory.

The main food reserves for sturgeon are concentrated in the Sea of ​​Azov. There is food for these fish in the northwestern parts of the Black Sea, as well as in the northern part of the Caspian Sea. Semi-anadromous types of the sturgeon family feed in the deltas of fast and large rivers. There is food for them in the pre-estuarine zones. With the onset of a warm period, these fish rise up river beds to spawn.

Representatives of sturgeon grow very quickly. This is facilitated by their ability to use existing food resources with maximum efficiency.

An interesting fact is that in the same body of water sometimes there are species of sturgeon that differ in the type of food they eat. Moreover, they all complement each other in a certain way. For example, in the Caspian basin, beluga is a common predatory fish. There is also a Russian sturgeon that eats shellfish. The food for stellate sturgeon are crustaceans and worms. Freshwater sterlet eats small invertebrates that live on the bottom of rivers. Thus, the food supply of the reservoir is used most efficiently.

Differences within species

Anadromous sturgeons have a rather complex classification. Within each species there are certain races. They differ in their breeding season. So, some of the subspecies go to spawn in the warm period, while others - in the cold.

The existence of different races is also possible due to differences in the use of places chosen for the deposition of eggs.

The emergence of hybrids

Sometimes, under natural conditions, crossing of different species of sturgeon occurs with each other. As a result, a variety of hybrid options appear.

A huge number of individuals have been studied that arose from the crossing of almost all species of sturgeon. Recently, the diversity of hybrids continues to increase. This is due to a decrease in the area of ​​areas that are suitable for spawning. In those reservoirs where deposition of eggs is possible, there is a large accumulation of individuals of various species.

Shovel-nosed

These are very peculiar fish that belong to the sturgeon subfamily. Shovel-nosed fish are adapted to life in fast flows of water carrying a large number of different suspensions.

A characteristic feature of representatives of this subfamily are very small eyes, sometimes almost covered with skin. This indicates that vision in these fish does not play a special role in life. But shovel-nosed animals have a superbly developed sense of touch. Its main organs are long antennae and the lower part of the snout. The body of these fish is protected from mechanical damage by large bony plates, which are a kind of shell. It is no coincidence that shovel-nosed animals have a flat snout. This shape allows the fish to stay afloat under a fast stream of water.

Representatives of this sturgeon subfamily can be found only in two regions of our planet. Individuals belonging to the genus American shovelnose are found in the Mississippi River basin. They are divided into two types. The first includes the common shovelnose. This is a fish whose length reaches 90 cm. White shovelnose is somewhat less common in Mississippi. This is a typical river fish, whose habitat is parts of the river with a very fast current. The length of representatives of this species reaches one meter.

False pathologists are a genus of sturgeon that live in the basins of rivers such as the Syr Darya and Amu Darya. This fish differs from its American relatives in its shorter body and fewer bony scutes.

Central Asian shovelnose snakes choose flat areas of river beds as their habitat. These fish do not go into the salty waters of the Aral Sea. The largest Amu Darya shovelnose reaches a length of 58 cm. Its weight is 760 g. A small representative of this genus has a body whose length does not exceed 27 cm.

Shovelnose stick to pebble and sandbanks. They can also be found in ducts. It’s not just the flat and wide snout that helps these fish stay in fast currents of water. Their pectoral fins, which act as suction cups, also have a special folded shape.

Shovelnose breeding occurs on sandy coarse-grained shallows, as well as on rocky placers, which are found in river beds at a depth of one and a half to two meters. Spawning of these fish occurs in March-April, when the water temperature reaches 14-16 degrees.

The main food of shovelnose fish is bottom invertebrates and fish eggs. Larger individuals prefer juvenile sabrefish, barbel and other large prey.

Delicacy fish

Sturgeon fish can be found on sale both live and chilled, smoked and frozen. It is used for the production of various canned food and balyk.

The sale of salted sturgeon fish is prohibited. This is due to the likelihood of the presence in delicatessen meat of a pathogenic anaerobe - botulinus, which causes severe poisoning.

Previously, only those belonging to the sturgeon family were called red fish. These are species such as sterlet, beluga, sturgeon and stellate sturgeon. But they were valued not at all for the pinkish-yellow color of the meat, but for their high nutritional and taste qualities. Today this common name is also assigned to salmon species. Thus, chum salmon, pink salmon and salmon are called red.

There is a certain trade and culinary classification of this fish. Its first group includes sturgeon, whose habitat is the Black and Caspian Seas. These are species such as stellate sturgeon and sturgeon, thorn and sterlet, and beluga. The second group includes salmon, such as trout and salmon, chum salmon and pink salmon, and the third group includes white salmon species (taimen and nelma, coho salmon and white fish).

The value of red fish meat is determined by the rich content of iodine and fluorine, calcium and phosphorus, zinc, vitamins B, A, D, PP and E. But the most important for human health is Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid. It is necessary to improve memory, maintain immunity and normal brain function.

Scientists have confirmed that those who regularly include red fish in their diet reduce the risk of cancer and hypertension by three times, and also do not experience depression.