T K "^ 



LX-ACIPENSERIDi;. 



ACIPENSEH, Artecli. 



1— A. oxyrhynchus. 



Sharp-Nosed Sturgeon. 



Bod}' elongated, pentagonal. Entire surface granulated, 

 excepting that occupied by five longitudinal rows of flattened 

 plates, ot the same structure as the covering of the head, but 

 of a lighte.' color. The largest plates form the dorsal ridge; 

 in younger specimens these plates are compressed on the 

 sides, and terminate above in strong, sharp, recurved spines. 

 The head flattened above, slightly depressed between the 

 eyes, and terminates at the occiput in a rounded plate, 

 pointed in the immature fish. 8nout blunt; eyes small; 

 lips fleshy, bilobed; mouth on underside of head; between 

 snout and mouth are four barbels. Greyish-brown above, 

 silvery upon tlie inferior body of sides. Upper lobe of caudal 

 twice as long as the lower. Length, 2 to 8 feet. 



Fin-rays:— D. 38; P. 28; V. 24; A. 23; C. 125. 



Acipenser oxyrliynclius , Mitch. Trans. Lit. & Phil. Soc. 

 Xew York, I, p. 462; Lesueur, Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. New 

 Jer. I, p. 394; Delvay, New York Fauna, Fishes, p. 346, pi. 

 58, fig. 189; Ayres, Boston Journ. Nat. Hist. IV, p. 28^7; 

 Storer, Mem, Am. Acad. II, p. 499, and VIII, p. 431, pi. 

 35, fig. 4. 



Common in the Susquehanna and Potomac Kivers. 



Sometimes, but not commonl}', brought to the Baltimore 

 markets. 



Acad. Coll. S. I. 



2— A. brevirostrum. 



Short-Nosed Sturgeon. 



Head broad and convex. Snout short, subacute, depressed 

 between the eyes. Skin appears smooth, but is scattered over 

 with small spines. Four flat barbels under the snout, dis- 

 [)0sed in pairs, and placed nearer the nostrils than to the end 

 of the snout. Dorsal series of tubercles, nine to twelve 

 hiteral series, twenty-three to twenty-nine; abdominal series, 

 from five to seven. Tail covered with lozenge-shaped plates. 

 Dusky above, with faint traces of oblique bands; whitish, 

 with a reddish hue below the lateral series; Avhite beneath. 

 Length, 2 to 5 feet. 



