84 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



the catch was about 250 fish in 1880, yielding 

 12,500 pounds of meat, and not much less in 1898 

 (10,875 pounds). But the yearly landings were 

 only about one fourth as great there (2,777 pounds) 

 by 1919. And the reported landings of sturgeon 

 from the entire coastline of Maine (including what 

 few were brought in from offshore) had fallen to 

 only 300 pounds in 1940, and 400 pounds in 

 1947. Reported landings in Massachusetts of 

 5,300 pounds in 1940 (all by otter trawlers) and 

 of 6,600 pounds (5,000 pounds by otter trawlers, 

 from off shore), corresponding to some 50 to 70 

 fish, if they weighed as little as 100 pounds each, 

 will further illustrate their present-day scarcity. 

 We have never heard of a large sturgeon hooked 

 by an angler in the Gulf of Maine. But we hear 

 from time to time of a small one caught in this 

 way, as already remarked (p. 83) . 5 And the 

 skill of a woman angler 9 who foul-hooked a stur- 

 geon about 6 feet long, and beached it on surf- 

 casting tackle after a long fight, fishing alone at 

 Wasque Point, Marthas Vineyard, on July 15, 

 1950, was widely heralded in the daily press. 



Short-nosed sturgeon Acipenser brevirostrum 

 LeSueur 1818 



Little sturgeon 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 106. 



Description. — The little sturgeon resembles the 

 sea sturgeon so closely in general appearance that 

 we need note only the most obvious differences. 

 These are that the shields in its dorsal row are 

 relatively smaller, and that each is separated from 

 the next by a space up to % as long as the shields 

 themselves (successive dorsal shields in contact or 

 overlapping in the sea sturgeon); that the space 

 between its dorsal row of shields and the upper 



• We once saw one small one about 23 Inches (575 mm.) long foul hooked In 

 the side on" South Beach, New York, December 21, 1923, and heard of a simi- 

 lar experience by the same angler a year later. 



• Mrs. George T. Rice. About 30 others were seen by her at the same time 

 In a deep slew formed by a new bar. 



lateral row on each side is only sparsely set with 

 fine prickles (closely set with coarse prickles in 

 the sea sturgeon); and that its viscera are black- 

 ish (pale in the sea sturgeon) ; also the number of 

 rays in the anal fin averages smaller in the little 

 sturgeon (19-22) than in the sea sturgeon (23-30). 

 The snout, too, is considerably shorter relatively, 

 as well as broader, than it is in young sea stur- 

 geons of equal size. And while the snout is about 

 as long, relatively, in the one species as in the 

 other whea they are full grown, sea sturgeons are 

 then so much the larger that there is no danger of 

 confusing the one kind with the other. 



Color. — Described as blackish above, tinged 

 with olive above the upper lateral line of shields, 

 marked with alternate black and pale bands; sides, 

 below the upper lateral row of shields, reddish 

 mixed with violet; abdomen white. 7 



Size. — This is a much smaller fish than the sea 

 sturgeon. Males may mature when only 19-20 

 inches long and most of them do by the time they 

 pass 21 inches; most of the females at about 24 

 inches. The largest so far recorded is one of about 

 36 inches, in the Museum of Comparative Zoology. 

 One about 31 inches long weighed 7 pounds 4 

 ounces. 8 



Habits. — Nothing is known of the habits of the 

 little sturgeon except that it spawns in rivers and 

 that it does so late in April in the lower Hudson. 

 The fact that fair sized specimens are taken there 

 in summer and also in winter, suggests that it 

 may not be as regularly migratory as the sea 

 sturgeon is. 9 But the places of capture of the 

 Gulf of Maine specimens mentioned below show 

 that some certainly go out into the open sea and 

 wander for some distance from their parent stream. 



General range. — So far as we know, the only 



We have not seen a fresh-caught specimen. 



■ For further details as to size, see Ryder, Bull. U. S. Fish Comm., vol.8, 

 1890, p. 238; and Greeley, Suppl. 26 Ann. Kept. Conserv. Dept. New York, 

 1937, p. 69, table 11, pp. 82, 90. 



• Greeley, Suppl. to 26 Ann. Rept. Conserv. Dept. New York, 1937, p. 90, 

 makes this suggestion. 



Figure 37. — Short-nosed sturgeon (Acipenser brevirostrum), Woods Hole specimen. From Goode. Drawing from a 



photograph. 



