BIHANG TILL K. SV. VET.-AKAD. HANDL. BAND 26. AFD. IV. N:0 8. 37 



Esox lucius Lin. 



The »schtschuka-^> is cominon in the Volga delta, Lut does 

 not seem to enter the Caspian Sea. Nevertheless it is also 

 found in Transcaucasia which is mentioned here because the 

 contrar}^ is stated in the literature. For instance in Lake 

 Adshi-Kabul in the Knrå region are caught yearly about 

 300 pud of this iish. It is, hovvever, here at the sonthern 

 limit of its distribution. 



Of sturgeons I observed Acipenser ruthenns Lin. in the 

 Volga delta where it is getting more scarce with every year. 

 In Volga, in Knrå and in the sea A. Iniso Lin., A. stcllatus 

 Pallas, A. (liildemtädti Brandt and A. scliypa Lovetzky. In 

 Kura river, I was told, the Imso ascends in December— Feb- 

 ruary, then comes srJtypa, then again stcUatus March — Maj- 

 and finally giildcnsfädti which latter spawns in June— July. 

 Some of these stnrgeons are subjected to a good deal of va- 

 riation which cause the fishermen to regard them as different 

 species or hybrids. In the Persian waters it was said that 

 it existed mainly >Osetrovyschyp>> (hybrid: (jiildcnstädti x 

 schypa) and »Sevrjugyschyp» (hybrid: stellatus x schypa). A 

 specimen said to be of the latter kind was shown to me at 

 Knrå river. It looked like an A. ■stcllatus with very short 

 nose, but had the lower lip divided. 14 plates in front of 

 the dorsal fin and 43 lateral plates. I had no opportnnity 

 to preserve it as it was too large, measuring 1240 mm. in 

 length, the length of the head was 310 mm., prseorbital length 

 167 mm., distance from snont to ventral fins 820 mm. and 

 distance between ventral and anal fins 195 mm. I do not 

 dåre to express any opinion about this fish but wish to draw 

 the attention to the fact that it resembled Jniso in several 

 respects. 



At Sydost-Kultuk just south of the mouth of Kura river 

 I saw a number of sturgeons and among them specimens of 

 tliildenstädti regarded to belong to a shortnosed and to a long- 

 nosed variety. In the former the length of the head was 

 14,G \, in the latter 19 "i of the total length. The prseorbital 

 length in these fishes was respectively 31.4 and 36,5 % of 



