Shovel-nosed Sturgeon 



Terre Haute, were i| to 4 feet long and weighed only 3 to 12 

 pounds! 



The female shovel-nose, as is the case with all other stur- 

 geons, is usually considerably larger than the male. The flesh 

 finds a ready sale, it being cut into steaks or smoked. The roe, 

 however, is the most valuable part of the fish, and, though the 

 amount furnished by a single fish is not large, it is highly prized, 

 it being made into caviar. Not until recently has it been utilized 

 for this purpose, but nov/ the more progressive fishermen in the 

 Mississippi Valley are careful to save the roe of both the shovel- 

 nose and the paddle-fish, as well as that of the common lake 

 sturgeon. 



Head 4; depth 8; snout i|-; eye very small; D. 32; A. 20; 

 dorsal shields 15 to 20; lateral 41 to 46; ventral 11 to 13. Body 

 elongate, tapering into a slender, depressed tail, which is extended 

 beyond the caudal fin in a slender filament, very long in the 

 young, but usually lost in the adult; bony shields opisthocen- 

 trous (i. e., with the spine behind the middle), sharply keeled, 

 the series confluent below the dorsal, obliterating the smaller 

 plates between; 2 occipital plates, each with a short keel; a 

 preocular spine and one at the posterior edge of the "shovel"; 

 a few spines on the snout in the young; barbels nearer mouth 

 than tip of snout; none of the fulcra enlarged; dorsal and anal 

 small; the anal little more than half length of dorsal and entirely 

 behind it; gillrakers small and lamellate, ending in 3 or 4 points. 

 Colour, pale yellowish olive. 



14 



