ACIPENSEK U U LDEN STADTl I. 



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Acipenser gtildenstadtii (Brandt and Eatzeburg). 



This species (Fig. 189) is known to the Austrians as Waxdick, or WaxlAlck, 

 and in Hnngary is termed Tok. Dr. Grimm speaks of it as the Eastern Stur- 

 geon. He states that its distribution is similar to that of the Sterlet, except 

 that it keeps nearer to the mouths of rivers, and goes farther into the sea. 

 It is found all over the Caspian, and is caught in the Kur and rivers 

 of Persia, and in Siberian rivers. It lives farther north than the Sterlet. 

 Meckel and Kner state that it is found throughout the yeax in tiie Danube, 

 and ascends all its larger tributaries. It rarely gets beyond Pressburg, and 

 is taken only occasionally at Vienna. It lives on worms and mud contain- 



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Fig. 189. — ACIPENSER GULDENSTADTII (bKANUT). 



ing organic matter. It spawns in the Danube in jNIav and June, and is 

 re])uted by Hungarian fishermen to live for fifteen to twenty years. In 

 llus.iia this species is known to reach a length of 270 centimeti-es, but the 

 usual size in Astrakhan does not exceed 180 centimetres. Heckel and Kner 

 state that fishes ten to twelve feet long weigh 150 to 160 pounds. In 

 Hungary it is rarely taken weighing less than thirty pounds. Its fiesh is much 

 valued for food. It yields excellent caviare and isinglass. 



The body is as wide as high, and it is usually eight-and-a-half times as 

 long as thick ; but the fish is only five-and-three-quarter times as long as the 

 head. The outline of the snout and frontal region is very like that in the 

 ./. iichtjpa ; but in A. (/i'ldeustddtii the distance from the mouth to the snout 

 is much less. The shields which cover the head are large, broad, and marked 

 with strong irregular rays (Fig. 190). They are often separated by a narrow 

 interspace, so as not to be perfectly in contact. Thus the first dorsal scute, which 

 is sub-circular, does not touch either the supra-occipital or the epiotic scutes ; 

 but between these shields, and extending into the large interspace between the 

 epiotic, parietal, and squamosal shields, is a number of small, densely-packed 

 scales. The supra-occipital shield is oblong, inclining to lanceolate, being 

 narrower in front, where it penetrates for half its length between the parietal 



