White Sturgeon ; Oregon Sturgeon 



iia. Plates between ventrals and anal fin large, in i row, or in 2 

 rows anteriorly and 1 posteriorly, of i to 4 plates each. 



b. Space between dorsal and lateral shields with rather large stel- 



late plates in 5 to 10 series. 



c. Shields all roughly striated and ridged; colour decidedly greenish; 



medirostris, 7 

 cc. Shields not roughly striated nor ridged; colour grayish; stiirio, 8 

 hb. Space between dorsal and lateral shields with minute spinules in 



very many series. 

 if. Last dorsal shield of moderate size, nirjre than \ the one 



before it; rubicundiis, 10 



dd. Last dorsal shield very small, less than }, length of the one 



before it ; brevirostris, 12 



White Sturgeon; Oregon Sturgeon 



Acipenser transmontamis (Richardson) 



Pacific Coast of America from Monterey, California, north to 

 Alaska, ascending the Sacramento, Columbia and Fraser rivers in 

 numbers in the spring. 



The white sturgeon, also known under several other names, 

 among which may be mentioned Columbia River sturgeon, Sac- 

 ramento sturgeon, and Pacific sturgeon, attains an enormous size 

 and is one of our largest fishes. The largest examples of which 

 we have record were 13 feet long and weighed 1,000 pounds. 

 These were taken in Snake River, Idaho, whence numerous in- 

 dividuals, weighing 100 to 630 pounds each, have been reported. 

 Formerly very large sturgeon were not uncommon in the Col- 

 umbia River, at Grays Harbor, and elsewhere on our Pacific 

 Coast, but the average size of those caught now probably does 

 not exceed 5 feet in length and 125 pounds in weight. An 

 example, 1 1 feet 2 inches long, was 2 feet across the head, and 

 another, 35 inches long, weighed 7>^ pounds. 



No careful study of the habits of this sturgeon has been made. 

 Until recent years it was known to ascend the larger rivers of 

 our Pacific Coast in great numbers, but, owing largely to destruc- 

 tive methods of fishing in vogue for many years, the species is 

 now not at all abundant. 



It is doubtless true that the white sturgeon, like most other 

 sturgeons, is anadromous in its habits, living ordinarily either in 

 salt water or in the river-mouths except at spawning-time, when 



