68 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



37 Acipenser brevirostrum LeSueur 



Short-nosed Sturgeon 



Acipenser brew rostrum. LE SUEUR, Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. I, 390, 1818; RYDER. 



Bull. U. S. F. C. VIII, 237, 1890; JORDAN & EVERMANN, Bull. 47, U. S. 



Nat. Mus. 106, 1S9G. 

 Acipenser Ircrirofttria GUNTHER, Cat. Fish. Brit. Mus. VIII. 341, 1870; 



JORDAN & GILBERT, Bull. 16, U. S. Nat. Mus. 87, 1883; SMITH, Bull. 



U. S. F. C. XVII, 90, 1898. 



In the short-nosed sturgeon the snout is very blunt and only 

 about one fourth to one third as long as the head. The four 

 short barbels are a little nearer to the end of the snout than 

 to the mouth, and do not reach to the mouth. The head is 

 one fifth to two ninths as long as the total to the fork of the 

 tail; the distance between the eyes slightly greater than length 

 of snout and somewhat more than one third of length of head. 

 The average number of bucklers in the dorsal series is 10 to 11; 

 in the lateral series, 25; in the ventral row, seven to eight. 

 No preanal scutes. The unarmored part of the skin, according 

 to recent observations of Prof. John A. Ryder, is almost free 

 from prickles and ossifications. D. 33; A. 19 to 22; V. 17 to 21; 

 P. 30 to 31; C. 60, its lower lobe two fifths as long as the upper, 

 measuring from the fork. The color of the skin of the upper 

 parts is reddish brown; lower parts nearly white; peritoneum 

 dark brown; viscera almost black. 



This little-known sturgeon has not been generally recognized 

 anywhere except in the Delaware and in Gravesend bay; only 

 a few specimens have been obtained in the river, and it is 

 rare in Gravesend ba t y. Prof. Ryder collected five examples 

 at Delaware City in the spring of 1888 and has published a 

 description of the species in the Bulletin of the U. S. Fish Com- 

 mission for that year. 



Size. The largest specimen known was 33 inches long; indi- 

 viduals 20 inches long are capable of reproducing the species. 



Uses. At the present time the short-nosed sturgeon prob- 

 ably never comes into the markets, on account of its small size, 

 which prevents its capture in the nets used for taking the 

 common sturgeon. About 1817, however, it was brought in 

 the shad season to Philadelphia and sold for 25c to 75c each. 



