THE STURGEON 19 



Acipenser sturio. In young examples the scutes are 

 juxtaposed and each is furnished with a strong com- 

 pressed recurved spine, but with age the scutes 

 become separated and the spines disappear. The 

 coloration is usually of a greyish or brownish purple 

 on the back, replaced by white below the lateral 

 series of scutes ; small dark spots may be present in 

 the young. 



The Sturgeon is an inhabitant of the coasts and 

 rivers of Eastern North America and of Europe from 

 Scandinavia to the Black Sea; it is most abundant 

 southwards and prefers larger rivers than any we can 

 offer; although it is by no means a rarity in our 

 islands, only solitary stragglers are usually en- 

 countered. 



It is a very large fish, attaining a length of 18 

 feet ; a specimen from Heligoland, more than 1 1 feet 

 long and of 623 lbs. weight, was sent to Frank 

 Buckland, and records of British examples of 7 or 

 8 feet are too numerous to mention. Our figure 

 (PI. II, Fig. I ) is of a quite young fish, 12 inches long. 



The Sturgeon is a somewhat sluggish fish, which 

 feeds chiefly on small invertebrates, rooting up the 

 sand or mud with its snout and feeling for its prey 

 with its barbels ; in the spring and early summer it 

 enters the rivers to spawn, and in the countries where 

 Sturgeons are plentiful and ascend the rivers in large 

 companies, a profitable fishery is carried on for this 

 and other species. In the British Isles there is no 

 regular fishery, but Sturgeons are occasionally taken 

 in Salmon nets ; they certainly do not enter our 

 rivers in any numbers, and probably do not spawn in 

 them, although they may ascend for some distance, 

 specimens having been captured in the Severn at 



