,7o STURGEON. 



I 



ALL the British fresh-water species, which up to this place have occupied our attention, 

 belong to the great sub-class Teleostei, from the Greek t^k^o'^ or reXeto?, "complete," 

 and oaTeov, " a bone," since all the individuals belonging to it possess an ossified skeleton, 

 and completely separated vertebrae. 



The Sturgeon comes under the sub-class Ganoidei, in which the fishes have a skeleton 

 more or less ossified. In this sub-class there are two orders — 



/. Hoiostci, in which the body is covered with scales, and the skeleton bony, and 

 //. Chondrostci, in which the skin is naked, or with bony bucklers. 



In the first order there are no British species of fish. To the second the Sturgeon family 

 {Acipenseridd) belongs ; it is thus characterized by Dr. Giinther : — " Body elongate, sub- 

 cylindrical, with five rows of osseous bucklers. Snout produced, subspatulate, or conical, with 

 the mouth at its lower surface, small, transverse, protractile, toothless. Nostrils double in 

 front of the eye. Four barbels in a transverse series on the lower side of the snout. Vertical 

 fins with a single series of fulcra in front. Dorsal and anal fins approximate to the caudal, 

 which is heterocercal. Gill membranes confluent at the throat, and attached to the isthmus. 

 Branchiostegals none ; gills four ; two accessory gills. Air-bladder large, simple, communicating 

 with the dorsal wall of the oesophagus. Stomach without blind sac. Pancreas divided into 

 pyloric appendages. Rectum with a spiral valve." — {Catalogue, viii. p. 332.) 



The Sturgeon, occurring as it does in the Mediterranean, was in all probability known 

 to the ancient Greeks and Romans ; other species of the family may also have been known 

 to them. The accounts, however, of the fishes called aKnrr]aio<i, acipenser, eWoyjr, ovi(TKo<i, etc., 

 are so unsatisfactory, that we can do little more than form a conjecture that some species 

 of Sturgeon is intended by all these various names. 



This fish is occasionally taken in Salmon nets on various parts of our coasts ; generally 

 speaking, in the estuaries, or not far up the rivers ; sometimes, however, it ascends rivers 

 to a considerable distance. A specimen, eight feet long, and weighing one hundred and 

 ninety-two pounds, was caught in the Severn, in 1802, in a weir near Shrewsbury. It has 

 been taken in the Trent, near Nottingham. The antiquarian Aubrey, records it as commonly 

 reported, that before an heir of Clifton of Clifton, in Nottinghamshire, dies, a Sturgeon is 

 caught in the river Trent near that place. 



The spawning time is in the winter and early spring, when the fish ascend the fresh 

 water of the larger rivers. The spawn consists of roe or small grains shed in the same 

 manner as that of the Teleostei, or bony fishes. This Sturgeon's roe is the caviar of commerce, 

 a thing, in my opinion, disgusting in appearance, offensive to the smell, and horrible to the 

 taste. The Sturgeons supply the greater part of this, so called, relish. It is prepared near 

 the mouths of the Volga, Danube, Dnieper, and Don. "In the month of March, the Sturgeon 

 arrives in great numbers for spawning at these places. The ovaria of the largest of these 

 fish are estimated to contain three millions of eggs. The fish are caught both with nets 

 and hooks. Caviar is prepared by removing from the roe all its membranes ; it is then washed 

 in vinegar or white wine, and dried by being spread on a board in the air. After this it is 

 thoroughly salted, the salt being rubbed in with the hand ; it is then put into a bag, and 

 pressed in order to remove the liquor; finally it is packed in kegs, and is then ready for 

 sale. The caviar made on the shores of the Caspian is for the most part sent up the Volga 

 to Moscow; that shipped from the ports of the Black Sea and Sea of Azof, is bought at 

 Astrakhan by the Armenians of Nakhitchivan and the Greeks of Taganrog. This caviar is 

 not so good as that which is made on the Caspian. The principal exports are to Italy: very 

 little is brought to England. The shipments altogether form only a small part of what is 

 made, the consumption in Russia being very great, in consequence of the three seasons 

 of fasting which occur in the year. There has been known to be as much as one thousand 



