Types of sturgeon fish: description of representatives and differences. Sturgeon fish species

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Any fishing can be very exciting, but sturgeon fishing is especially exciting. Sturgeon species fish are protected by the Red Book, and they can only be caught with a special permit, or on paid reservoirs. But no high cost bothers lovers of active fishing. The costs of catching the king fish are fully compensated by the pleasure and burst of adrenaline.

Phylogenetically, this is the oldest group of fish on the planet. Today, nineteen species have survived in the world, eleven of which can be found as part of the ichthyofauna of Russian water areas. They are united by common structural features:

• cartilaginous skeleton with a cartilaginous notochord (“dorsal chord”) instead of a spine;
• spindle-shaped body shape;
• thick, rough skin with diamond-shaped scales (“bugs”) covered with enamel-like ganoin;
• five rows of plates protecting the body from the abdominal, dorsal and sides;
• the dorsal fin is far removed from the head, the anterior ray of the pectoral fin is in the form of a spine;
• the front part of the skull is extended into the rostrum (snout);
• oral opening in the form of a semilunar slit on the lower part of the snout;
• the mouth is retractable, with soft lips, without teeth, surrounded by four sensitive antennae;
• rudimentary squirter on the gill cover;
• small black caviar.

Sturgeon fish is found in three forms: semi-anadromous, anadromous and residential. Anadromous species are sea sturgeons. Most of the time they “graze” in the sea, entering rivers.

Semi-anadromous fish do not tolerate high salinity, but like to feed in pre-estuarine areas where sea water is diluted. Semi-anadromous species of sturgeon rise to the upper reaches of rivers to spawn.

Residential (or local) are river or lake freshwater sturgeons. They migrate to spawning grounds without going to sea.

All species of sturgeon live in the Northern Hemisphere. Mostly seen in temperate latitudes. One of the most “southern” species is the Adriatic sturgeon, living off the coast of Italy.

Sturgeon is a fish with a mainly benthic diet. Leads a bottom-dwelling lifestyle, eating mollusks, crustaceans, and larvae. Adult large individuals (beluga, kaluga) feed on fish.

The sturgeon's weight and size vary greatly depending on the species. The “tallest” – a. .

On a note. Sturgeon fish reach maturity very late. Some varieties mature only at 15 years. Sturgeon spawning occurs at intervals of several years. Females spawn only 2-5 times in their lives.

Photo 1. Kaluga fish.

Sturgeons of the Russian expanses: a brief overview

In Russia, the sturgeon's habitat extends from White Sea to the Caspian Sea. Distributed in the basins of Siberian rivers. In the west it is sometimes found in the Baltic Sea, in the east – in the Pacific Ocean.

On a note. In nature, many species of sturgeon easily form hybrids. Thanks to this, bester, a hybrid of sterlet and beluga, was artificially bred for commercial cultivation.

Photo 2. Sevruga

Seasonal sturgeon migrations

Sturgeon fish are constantly on the move. They distinguish between spawning and feeding migrations. Spawning - from the wintering and feeding areas to the spawning grounds, feeding - in the opposite direction. Sea sturgeon migrate to rivers to spawn because their eggs and larvae survive only in fresh water. But residential freshwater forms also move along river beds - they look for clean shallow waters with fast currents and a pebble bottom.

All sturgeon spawn in the spring and summer, but they migrate to the spawning grounds at different times. On this basis, sturgeon are divided into seasonal races - winter and spring. Spring fish begin their spawning run immediately before spawning, in the spring. Winter crops - in the fall, with sexual products that have not yet ripened, and their spawning migration coincides with the wintering migration. It is curious that different seasonal races can form even within the same species, depending on the specific habitat.

Spawned anadromous and semi-anadromous sturgeons migrate back to the sea to feed. Residents are also returning to their permanent place of residence. During this period, the fish is “thin”, with an extremely low body fat content. The fry that hatch from the eggs grow for some time near the spawning ground, and then follow their parents.

Features of sturgeon fishing

Sturgeon fishing can begin after spawning. Places of wild reservoirs where sturgeon live are recognized by the following signs:

1. Large shallows, underwater slides and spits.
2. Gaps between dams.
3. Places with slow currents up to two meters deep.
4. Artificial coastal fills.
5. Vast oxbow lakes.
6. Mouths of tributaries.
7. Sandy coastal areas with stumps and boulders.

Considering the rarity of sturgeon and taking care of their safety, it is, of course, more correct to use the services of paid reservoirs. You won’t be able to get a trophy from them, but you can catch small sturgeon for your own pleasure. Individuals weighing 1-4 kg are usually launched into “pay zones”. The fish that were released the day before are biting the most actively.

Tackle for sturgeon is prepared taking into account its bottom-dwelling lifestyle. Most often used with rigid forms. Bolognese fishing rods are not suitable - sturgeons easily break them. The length of the rod depends on the fishing method: from the shore or from a boat, in the near zone or with long casts.

Photo 3. White sturgeon.

Many anglers use barbless hooks to reduce trauma to the sturgeon's soft mouth. Hook sizes for fishing on paid reservoirs are No. 8-10. For larger wild individuals - No. 2-6. Be sure to prepare a wide carp fishing rod and gloves so as not to injure your hands on the spiked prey.

It is better to find out in advance from the owners of the reservoir or other fishermen what to use for catching sturgeon on the “pay site”. IN general case Animal baits that work best for sturgeon are:

• smoked capelin;
• bunches of earthworms or dung worms;
• fish fillet.

A separate topic is pearl barley or toothless meat. With its help, sturgeon fishing can be very successful, since in nature sturgeon willingly suck these mollusks from the shell. You can dial them right on the spot.

Sturgeon bait can be prepared for carp. It will be large enough so that it won’t be taken away right away. small fish, slowly dissolving and aromatic. Sturgeons have poor eyesight, but a sensitive sense of smell, so it is better not to use unnecessary flavorings. It is also not worth feeding this fish heavily.

There is one secret about how to catch a sturgeon: you need to immediately respond by hooking even a barely noticeable bite. Sturgeon are able to very gently remove the bait without swallowing the hook.

The caught sturgeon sharply presses to the bottom and strongly resists. You need to reel it in quickly and confidently. A sturgeon can break loose when jumping out of the water, so it’s better not to hesitate. However, even if he manages to get off the hook in this way, the spectacle of the signature sturgeon “candle” and the pleasure of fighting with a strong opponent will completely compensate for the lack of a catch.

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. Average weight 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 different big amount 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 they were caught giant specimens, whose length ranged from four to five meters and weighed 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 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 in natural conditions different species of sturgeon are crossed 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 it is common name 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.