SIlKGKnN. 



1 015 1 



and tlic siis|iiciuii I'cadily suggests itself lliiit the Ame- 

 ricMii tresli-water Sturgeon is ;i landluelved foi'in of tiie 

 conunon Stui'geon, and stands in tlie saint; relation to 

 the latter as Sahiio fntttd to S. snlar. 



Of the ]if(! and liahits of the Sturgeon we possess 

 but scanty information. Most of its existence is passed 

 at the bottom, where it is l)e\'ond the reach of all cu- 

 riosity. To judge bv its behaviour in atpiaria. it is a 

 sluggish, though petulant creature; and it usualh' glides 

 at a gentle pace o\er the bottom, shooting out and 

 drawing in its mouth; but of a sudden, awaking, as it 

 wei'c, from its drowsy laziness, it darts through the 

 water with the speed of an arrow. It is extremely 

 tenacious of life, and in a cool ])lace may be kejrt alive 

 out of the water for twenty-four hoiu'S or even longer. 

 '"It seems a. spiritless tish", says Pennant", "making 

 no manner of resistance when entangled, but is drawn ' 

 out of the water like a lifeless lump". By the asser- 

 tion of its great muscular strength, however, it some- 

 times gives formidable proof that it is by no means 

 insensible to danger and sufferings, and a blow dealt 

 hv the tail of a large Sturgeon is enough to fracture 

 an arm oi- a leg. Besides it is far from always so in- 

 different to its fate as to abandon itself to the toils 

 without more ado. The fishermen fre(piently complain 

 that it breaks loose from their nets. When the Stur- 

 geons are foiuid in rivers which they have ascended in 

 order to spawn, and when they are distressed by the 

 pressure of the tumid generative organs, the)- are slug- 

 gish from natural causes; but "in the sea, where they 

 are sometimes stated to be sterile, they are evidently 

 not ripe for the time being, being in a certain sense 

 virgin, and consequenth' fai' more active. Herr Dei- 

 KEH has communicated a proverb current among the 

 Sturgeon-fishermen of the North Sea, which runs, Lmp- 

 infi Stun/eonf! and (lancing fi'irls are hard to hold fast'"'. 

 The Sturgeon also resembles the Salmons in its habit, 

 when migrating,- of now and then flinging itself entirely 

 out of the water. 



The Sturgeon feeds in the manner just described 

 on the worms of the bottom, crustaceans {Awphipoda), 

 and raollusks, but also, like several Cypriuoids, on the 

 decomposing animal substances to be found in the mud. 

 The stomach of a male which was taken at Dalaro on 



tile l(Sfh of .Inlv, I S!)0, and which is rcjiresented in 

 our ligure (I'latc .\l,\'l, lig. 1), was filled at the an- 

 terior crook witli a scoi'c oi' two of Isopods {Idothea 

 cittonidii). 'fhat the diet of tlie Sturgeon consists prin- 

 cipally of Herring, Mackerel, Cod, and Salmon, the last 

 of which it chases up the rivers, is a statement which 

 originated witli Lacki'icde', and was dictated by his 

 conception of the Sturgeon as distinctly a predatory 

 hsh, using its barbels as a lure to entice its prey. The 

 Stnrgccm. nn ddulit. does not disdain a tish oi' two, 

 wln'U it can pi'ncure a meal of this kind — its larger 

 congener, the llauscui, is notorious for its pursuit of 

 small tishes, especially a variety of Bleak, in the Rus- 

 sian rivers — but so far as we know, it contents itself 

 with victims of insignificant size, such as Sand-Eels, 

 wlujse manner of life renders them a suitable prej'. We 

 also know' that it is sometimes taken on Haddock-lines 

 or Cod-lines, the bait of which must thus have attrac- 

 tions for it. From the last-mentioned circumstance we 

 may also conclude that its haunts in the sea extend from 

 the littoral zone down to a dt'pth of some twenty-five 

 fatlioms; but how deep it can descend, is unknown to us. 

 The spawning-season of the Sturgeon occurs in 

 spring and early summer, from A]iril to the end of 

 July. Like the Salmons, it then repairs to running 

 water, preferring rivers with wide mouths, deltaic 

 streams, or estuaries where the salinity of the water 

 gradually diminishes up the channel. That it spawns in 

 Sweden, admits of no question, though no special lo- 

 cality where the opei'ation takes place is known. In 

 the middle of July we once received from Lulea a ripe 

 male, the internal organs of which are described above, 

 and at the same time of year we obtained a spent male 

 from Dalaro. In the island-belt of Sodermanland Ek- 

 STK<')M secured fry .'! — 1 dm. long, "during autumn, in 

 the deeper watei'courses". Under ordinary circumstances 

 the Sturgeon does not ascend so far up the rivers as 

 the Salmon. Its timidit\' too probably leads it to avoid 

 the Swedish rivers where timber is rafted. That it 

 should spawn at the mouths of the Swedish rivers or 

 even in the Gulf of Bothnia, on the shores of the island- 

 belt, is by no means incredible. Milxer describes how 

 its neai'ly related congener, if not a member of the 

 same species, the fresh-water Sturgeon of America. 



•■ Brit. Zool. (1776), vol. Ill, p. 110. 



^ He.nking, Deutsch. Fisch. Ver., Mittli. Si-ct. Kiist., Hochseefiscli., 18ii:i. [i. 21. 



' Hist. .Vat. Poiss.. (1708). iome I, p. 418. 



'' Kroykr. 1. <■.. |i. 77.^. 



