ACirENSER HUSO. 415 



pounds, while in 1813 a Belug-a taken at Sarepta weighed 3,200 pounds. 

 Fishermen report having- sometimes caught Belugas so large that they were 

 unable to drag them from the river ; but large specimens like these are alto- 

 gether exceptional. Acipenser huso often reaches a weight of 800 to 1,200 

 pounds, but the average size in the Astrakhan market is from 360 to 400 

 pounds, though smaller ones, down to a weight of 120 pcjunds, are often seen. 

 Owing to its large size — and the females are hirger than the males — -the 

 weight of the roe is immense. Pallas states that the roe weighed 800 

 pounds in a fish of 2,800 pounds, but this is an unusually large propoi'tion, 

 for Dr. Grimm mentions that in Acipenser stellatiis the roe is commonly one- 

 tenth of the weight, one-quarter of the weight in A. schjpa, and one-fifth 

 m A. guldenstdfUii. It is captured not only for its flesh, 10,800,000 pounds' 

 weight of which is annually exported from Astrakhan, but also for the roe, 

 which in common with that of other species is made into caviare ; and for 

 the isinglass which is made from the air-bladder. 



The Beluga migrates like the other Sturgeons, and the wanderings com- 

 mence with the beginning of spring. It crowds into the mouths of the rivers 

 in large herds before the ice lias disap])eared, and it is no rare circumstance for 

 the fishes to be injured, or even to have their snouts broken oif by the drifting 

 ice. Observers differ as to whether it regularly descends to the sea, and just as 

 it wovild appear to remain in the sea for some time, or, at least, until it attains a 

 weight of twenty pounds — for smaller individuals never occur in the Danube — 

 so there is evidence to show that, in the Volga, at any rate, it sometimes passes 

 tlie winter in a hybernating condition in the rivers. It is a sluggish and timid 

 fish, fleeing from other fishes, and especially from the pursuit of the Sterlet. 

 Yet, owing to its large size, a blow from its tail would easily capsize a small 

 boat. When captured it makes a grunting noise, and it soon becomes power- 

 less. It seeks soft muddy places in the river, and often remains inactive, as 

 though asleep. During the day it sometimes swims on the surface, with its 

 head projecting in the water, and sometimes remains at the bottom, with its 

 snout buried in the sand or mud. It is very voracious, and feeds on a variety 

 of animal and vegetable substances. Small fishes, especially of the Carp tribe, 

 are eaten by it, and water-birds have occasionally been found in its stomach. 



The proportions of the body are not very different from those of other 

 species, the thickness being- equal to the height, and about one-eighth of the 

 total length (Fig. 202). 



The head is rather narrower than the body, and tapers interiorly in a l)lunt 

 cone. The length of the snout scarcely exceeds tlie width of the mouth ; its 

 extremity, is curved slightly upward, and is free from shields, so that the 

 cartilage, of which it consists, is semi-transparent. 



