90 GIANT FISHES 



From a scientific point of view the Sturgeons are of consider- 

 able interest, representing as they do the specialized and to a 

 great extent degenerate survivors of a very ancient and 

 primitive group of Bony Fishes that flourished during the 

 Palaeozoic Era. These ancestral forms had their bodies 

 completely covered with ganoid scales, and their heads and 

 mouths were of the normal type. 



Sturgeons are clumsy and somewhat sluggish fishes, most 

 abundant on sandy or muddy stretches, where they swim 

 about slowly, close to the bottom. If disturbed, however, 

 they are capable of sudden, rapid bursts of speed, and not 

 infrequently come to the surface of the sea and leap clear of 

 the water. When captured in nets or on hooks they offer 

 little resistance, although large individuals are very powerful 

 and may be awkward customers to handle. The sharp-edged 

 scutes make the muscular tail a nasty weapon, which has been 

 known to cut a man's leg to the bone. There is a curious old 

 North Sea proverb to the effect that leaping Sturgeons and 

 dancing girls are both hard to hold ! 



They are normally ground-feeders, but may at times seize 

 fishes swimming freely in the water. They might well be 

 described as mud-grubbers, for they root about in the sand 

 or mud with their snouts, and feel for their prey with the 

 sensitive feelers in front of the mouth. Having located this, 

 the mouth is pushed out like a funnel, and the food is sucked 

 up along with considerable quantities of mud. The diet 

 consists mainly oi worms, shellfish, crustaceans and other 

 small ground-living creatures, but aquatic plants are also eaten, 

 as well as various kinds of fishes. Like the salmon, the 

 Sturgeon almost ceases to feed when it enters the rivers to 

 spawn. In cold weather these fishes go into a sort of winter 

 sleep, remaining quite torpid for a considerable time. 



The breeding migration takes place in the spring or early 

 summer, and, as far as is known, spawning takes place mainly 

 in May, June and July. The parent fish make their way 

 slowly upstream to deposit their eggs beyond the influence of 

 the tides, but it is believed that some may spawn in brackish 

 water. Under the stress of sexual excitement, these great 

 clumsy fishes will sometimes leap right out of the water. In 

 the British Isles Sturgeons do not enter the rivers in any 



