5 4 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



of removing the head, collar bone (clelthrum), tail, all fins, and the viscera.*' Thus the 

 weight of prepared meat, which varies with size of fish, sex, stage of maturity, and 

 condition of fatness, is only about 50 "/o or even ^o°Jq of the entire Sturgeon. The roe 

 from Atlantic Sturgeon is as good for making caviar as that from Lake Sturgeon, and 

 being mature at a larger size, the Atlantic Sturgeon furnishes a larger quantity of eggs. 

 In early Colonial days, around 1709 in North Carolina, the rough Atlantic Sturgeon 

 scutes were considered "good nutmeg graters" {6y: 56). 



The value of the Atlantic Sturgeon for angling purposes is negligible. Neverthe- 

 less, occasional captures of large ones with hook-and-line stir public interest. It is worth- 

 while to mention the capture of a 6-foot Sturgeon, foul-hooked, by a skilled woman 

 angler at Wasque Point, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket Sound (jj: 84). 



General Range. The regular range of A. oxyrhynchus is limited to the Atlantic 

 coast of North America and the Gulf of Mexico. The northern subspecies, J. oxy- 

 rhynchus oxyrhynchus, occurs from Hamilton Inlet on the Atlantic coast of Labrador 

 (7: 290) and the Gulf of St. Lawrence to eastern Florida. In the Gulf of Mexico is 

 found the southern subspecies A. oxyrhynchus desotoi (p. 56) (j^: 408, 409, 41 1). Oc- 

 casional captures of Atlantic Sturgeon have been reported for Bermuda*^ and even for 

 French Guiana,*^ but these southern stragglers probably are of the subspecies desotoi. 

 And a large Sturgeon, taken near the mouth of the Mississippi River, the photograph 

 of which has been published (j^), can be identified as desotoi by its broad and strongly 

 developed scutes. 



There are early reports of the presence of A. sturio (equals A. oxyrhynchus^ in 

 Hudson Bay, but from the descriptions it is evident that the specimens in question 

 were A. fulvescens (see also J^: 30 [42]). 



Details of Occurrence. Hamilton Inlet on the Atlantic coast of Labrador is the 

 most northerly point where A. oxyrhynchus has been reported (7: 290). Blanc Sablon, 

 on the Quebec side of the Strait of Belle Isle, is the next most northerly point (some 

 specimens from this locality are in our collections). Atlantic Sturgeon are found reg- 

 ularly throughout the Gulf of St. Lawrence and in the St. Lawrence River up to Three 

 Rivers, and odd specimens are taken even in Lake St. Peter, near Sorel, Quebec (25 : 

 19). They are found also in small numbers on the Newfoundland side of the Gulf of 

 St. Lawrence, are well known in Nova Scotian waters, especially near estuaries {8 5: 

 58), and are caught regularly in the St. John River, New Brunswick, as well as at the 

 head of the Bay of Fundy {42: [10] 58). 



To the south, Atlantic Sturgeon are (or were) well known in the Penobscot, 

 Kennebec, and Merrimack rivers ; indeed, they entered nearly every stream of any size 



47. Ryder {6$: 276) and Hildebrand and Sckroeder {jq: 75) have given details on the methods of preparing Stur- 

 geon for the market. 



48. According to Beebe and Tee-Van, two records of A. oxyrhynchus were mentioned in early Bermuda lists, one 

 for 1876 and the other for 1887 (9: 32). 



49. In 1867 Dum^ril [z-j: 161) described a new Sturgeon, as A. cayennensis, from French Guiana "de la riviere 

 Oyapock dite la Cayenne." Bertin {12: 248-249), after examining the holotype (No. 3493, 740 mm, stuffed, 

 in good condition) in the Paris Museum, considered it as a possible hybrid A. sturio x A. bre'uirostris , but Vladykov, 

 who re-examined it in 1950, identified it as A. oxyrhynchus. 



