THE STURGEONS. 



On the white sand of the bottom 

 Lay the monster Mishe-Nahma 

 Lay the sturgeon. King of Fishes. 



Longfellow : Hiatvatha' s Fishing. 



npWO species of Sturgeon are supposed to exist on our Atlantic coast. 

 The most abundant of these, Acipenser oxyi-hyiicJius, is now generally 

 supposed to be identical with the common Sturgeon of Europe, A. sfiirio. 

 The other, A. brevirostris, which is distinguished from A. oxyrhy?ic/nis by- 

 its shorter and blunter nose, has not yet been found north of Cape Cod, 

 and appears to be comparatively less abundant, although both species are 

 found in great numbers in the larger rivers and estuaries during the sum- 

 mer season, and are frequently seen leaping from the water, especially at 

 dusk. A leaping Sturgeon is a striking object, the whole length of the 

 fish appearing above the surface before it falls back with a splash into the 

 water. 



The Sturgeon attains the length of five to twelve feet. In Europe, indi- 

 viduals of the common Sturgeon eighteen feet long have been observed. 

 They spawn rn spring and early summer, in the lower stretches of the 

 rivers, and perhaps also at their mouths, in brackish water. 



The mouth is situated upon the under surface of the head, and is not 

 provided with teeth, but is surrounded with a cup-shaped organ composed 

 of powerful muscular tissue, by means of which it grubs for its food in the 

 mud. Its stomach resembles that of the menhaden and mullet, though 

 comparatively more muscular, since, like the gizzard of a fowl, one of its 

 uses is to triturate the food which has been swallowed, and which consists 

 largely of mollusks, and crustaceans. Around the mouth is a group of 

 large and sensitive tentacles, which aid the fish in its search for food. 



No one has yet made a careful study of the habits of the Sturgeon in our 

 waters, and in fact European zoologists have made little progress in the 

 study of the species of the Old World. 



Within the past few years the capture of the Sturgeon for smoking and 

 for the manufacture of caviare from its eggs has attained considerable 

 importance on the Atlantic coast. The most satisfactory discussion of this 

 fish is that published by iNIilncr in Part II, of the Report of the United 

 States Fish Commission, pages 67 to 75. 



