Sturgeon

[Volcom]

[*]The common sturgeon (Acipenser sturio), also known as the European or Baltic sturgeon occurs on all the coasts of Europe, but is absent in the Black Sea. Almost all the British specimens of sturgeon belong to this species; it crosses the Atlantic and is not rare on the coasts of North America. It reaches 12 ft (4 m) long, but is always caught singly or in pairs, so that it cannot be regarded as a fish of commercial importance. The form of its snout varies with age (as in the other species), being much more blunt and abbreviated in old than in young examples. There are 11–13 bony shields along the back and 29–31 along the side of the body. The European or Atlantic sturgeon is now mostly gone from overfishing.[/*]
 

Gee, I wonder If I could tame dis ting wid ma drop shot kit and a lil Pogy?  

 

[MickJack]

Get enough Caviar for a whole nation from one that size!

 

[Riymos]

Hey Guy's

Any idea if when catching a fish of that size and age whether it can survive the fight and the still live after that.Also what sort of baits do these over seas guy's tarhet these fish with,and what do they target them for f not for the sport.Are they edible and if so any ideas on how good an eating fish it is.

Hope You guys have some awnsers,i think this is an amazing creature very interresting VOLCOM thanks boet...

Cheers Riymos

 

[ASHLEY]

Common Sturgeon
Acipenser sturio
 


There are 16 Acipenser species living in Eurasia and North America, distinguished from each other by the shape of the mouth and the number and shape of the bony plates in the skin. The Common Sturgeon has a characteristic elongate snout with barbels closer to its mouth than to the tip of the snout. It has 9-13 scutes or bony plates on its back, 24-44 on its sides and 9-11 on its belly. The first ray of its pectoral fin is thicker than the rest. It has a greyish green or greyish brown back, a white belly, dingy white scutes and brownish fins. This is one of the biggest sturgeons, growing relatively fast and measuring about 1.5m when ten years old. The Common Sturgeon originally lived in coastal waters all round Europe and the cast coast of North America and each year the fish migrated up the major rivers to spawn, but today only isolated specimens are caught in west European waters, none migrate up the Rhine and the Elbe any more and only comparatively few are left in the Black Sea and its tributaries. The males reach maturity when seven to nine years old, the females between eight and fourteen. When spawning the females are extremely prolific, the number of eggs varving from one to two million. The fry feed on benthic invertebrates; adult sturgeons feed mainly on fish, but also take molluscs, bristleworms and crabs. In the sea they probably frequent water over a sandy or a clayey bed; at spawning time they do not travel so far upstream as the Great Sturgeon. The Common Sturgeon population is today everywhere so small that its economic importance is minimal. Fishing is not the only reason for its decline and the pollution and destruction of its spawning sites together with dam construction seem to have made it almost impossible for it to increase its numbers again.





Size


up to 3 m



Weight


up to 300 kg



Fin formula


D 31-47, A 21-34



Fecundity


800,000-2,400,000 eggs



Distribution


The Atlantic coast of Europe, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea; also present in the Baltic Sea and in Lake Ladoga and Lake Onega.